Four major research institutions; UCSD, the Scripps Research Institute, the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the Salk Institute have come together to form a cutting-edge San Diego Consortium on Regenerative Medicine. The SDCRM is working on a major facilities grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The amount of the grant will be determined at a meeting of CIRM’s governing board early next month. The facility is likely to be completed within next two years.

The aim of the SDCRM is to promote collaboration between leading biologists, physicians, engineers, physicists, chemists, computer scientists and bioethicists. It will pool resources to buy state-of-the-art tools and instruments. In addition, the consortium will recruit and train new researchers in stem-cell research.

The Burnham Institute, one of the four members of the group, has a long-standing commitment to stem-cell research dating back 11 years. Working with CIRM, the consortium will also create new laboratories that are safe harbors for stem-cell research free from federal restrictions.

SDCRM will be performing medical research in the fields of neurology, cardiology, ophthalmology, hematology, oncology and endocrinology.

Just as SDCRM will function as a forum to bring together leading scientists from each of the institutions, the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Scripps will be an internal mechanism to unite scientists who are working on stem cells and create an interdisciplinary environment.

Source: THE GUARDIAN