The three-year grant will fund the training of 16 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and physicians conducting stem cell research each year. CIRM fellows will be offered various training options, including working with faculty who are leaders in cell and molecular biology, gene medicine, cell-based therapies, engineering, and organ transplantation. The program also includes mandatory training in the social, legal, ethical and policy aspects of stem cell research, said Owen Witte, the center's director.
"We provide our trainees with a critical background in stem cell biology, an understanding of human disease and the knowledge they need to translate basic research findings from the laboratory to the clinic," Witte said. "We achieve this through a coordinated approach that integrates formal classroom training, seminars and symposia, and laboratory research."
UCLA's grant proposal, which was approved Jan. 30 by the state's Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the governing board of the CIRM, received a score of 95 out of 100, and reviewers lauded the stem cell center's training program as "outstanding."
"Reviewers uniformly recognized that the institution provides an outstanding environment for training both scientists and clinicians in the stem cell field," the review stated. "Reviewers uniformly lauded faculty mentors as superb, with exciting research training opportunities for scholars that encompass many different areas of stem cell biology."
CIRM fellow Ann Zovein calls her experience in the program invaluable.
"I feel very fortunate to be a participant in the CIRM training grant. It has allowed me to gain extraordinary training in stem cell and developmental biology research in a renowned laboratory with a fantastic mentor, Luisa Iruela-Arispe," Zovein said. "As a CIRM fellow, I have had the privilege of attending CIRM meetings and events and sharing my science with peers and senior scientists in stem cell research. The collegial and supportive atmosphere creates a unique and unparalleled environment from which to start an early career in stem cell research."
UCLA's Broad Stem Cell Research Center received its initial training grant of $3.75 million in 2005 - the largest training grant awarded. UCLA's current renewal is tied for the largest grant awarded in this round. CIRM training grant funding to UCLA now totals $7.68 million, the largest amount awarded to a stem cell center. To date, 33 researchers have cycled through the training program.
In all, the Broad Stem Cell Research Center and its scientists have received 24 grants from the CIRM, totaling $57 million.
The CIRM, which provides grants to California stem cell researchers from a $3 billion fund, was created by the passage of state Proposition 71 in November 2004.
UCLA's stem cell center was launched in 2005 with a UCLA commitment of $20 million over five years. A $20 million gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in 2007 resulted in the renaming of the center.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, with more than 150 members, is committed to a multidisciplinary, integrated collaboration of scientific, academic and medical disciplines for the purpose of understanding adult and human embryonic stem cells. The institute supports innovation, excellence and the highest ethical standards focused on stem cell research with the intent of facilitating basic scientific inquiry directed towards future clinical applications to treat disease. The center is a collaboration of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the UCLA College of Letters and Science.
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