UCSF Scientists Highlighted in NewsHour Stem Cell Story

UCSF scientists were featured on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer yesterday, Oct. 9, in a story on the state of stem cell research in California. The segment examined the impact that the state's $3 billion stem cell initiative, ushered in by voters in November 2004, has had on the field. While sale of bonds to fund the initiative was delayed by more than two years, the passage of the proposition alone galvanized universities statewide to begin developing major programs. Now that the funding is flowing and two significant rounds of research grants have been issued, the field is gaining momentum. UCSF initiated a university-wide stem cell program in 2002, and had had a pioneering human embryonic stem cell lab since 1999, but the research enterprise has burgeoned since Proposition 71 in terms of programmatic planning, faculty recruitment and infrastructure, says Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, director of the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine. The NewsHour segment includes Kriegstein, recent faculty recruit Holger Willenbring, MD; chair of surgery Nancy Ascher, MD; neuroscience graduate student Laura Elias; Deepak Srivastava, MD, director of the UCSF-affiliated Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease; and recent faculty recruit Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PHD, also of the Gladstone Institute. Related Links: California Takes Lead in Stem Cell Research, Scientist Recruitment The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS, October 8, 2007 Embryonic Stem Cell Strategy Advanced with UCSF Finding UCSF News Release, September 10, 2007 Neural Stem Cell Study Reveals Mechanism that May Play Role in Cancer UCSF News Release, September 4, 2007 Acclaimed Stem Cell Scientist Joins Gladstone Institutes UCSF Today, August 22, 2007 Insight into Neural Stem Cells Has Implications for Designing Therapies UCSF News Release, July 5, 2007 UCSF, Karolinska Institute Scientists Explore Stem Cell Collaborations UCSF Today, January 26, 2007 UCSF Plays Significant Role in Stem Cell Research UCSF Today, October 27, 2006 Stem Cell Research Advances Cancer Knowledge UCSF Today, August 14, 2006 UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine The Gladstone Institutes