UCI awarded $27.2 million for new stem cell building

“I am delighted with the progress our stem cell center directors have made in recruiting and planning for an expanded research program,” said Susan Bryant, vice chancellor for research at UCI and a member of the ICOC. “Our stem cell program is training young UCI scientists, as well as visiting researchers. We have enormous enthusiasm and excitement about the future of stem cell research at UCI.”

In all, the new building will cost approximately $61 million. CIRM funding will be supplemented with private donations and campus debt funding.

“Stem cell research promises to transform the treatment of disease and to give us longer, healthier lives,” said Edward Thorp, a donor to UCI’s stem cell program. Thorp is a founding faculty member at UCI and a pioneer in the field of quantitative finance.

“We expect donor support will allow continuing breakthroughs by UCI’s stellar research team,” Thorp said.

Said Tom Yuen, chairman and chief executive officer of PrimeCell Therapeutics LLC and SRS Labs, and a UCI stem cell program donor: “In the next decade, stem cell research will improve our quality of life and expand the frontiers of medicine. At UCI, world-class stem cell scientists and innovators are already setting the winning pace.”

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