Stem Cell Research in California
San Francisco, California is quickly becoming the Stem Cell Research Capitol of the world. This exciting biotechnology industry is burgeoning in California primarily because of Proposition 71, the state’s $3 billion stem cell initiative. Although in debate due to ethical concerns around embryonic stem cell research and cloning, there are currently 58 diseases that are being treated using adult stem cells so it could easily be said that there are more pros than cons.
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California Embryonic Stem Cell Research – Pros and Cons
Scientists believe that stem cell research holds the promise to treat a multitude of diseases that include cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, ALS and spinal chord injuries. These diseases affect 128 million Americans, including a child or adult in nearly half of all California families. Although not a single person has been cured by stem cell research, and most experts agree that the development of commercial therapies remains at least a few years off, stem cell advocates are likening the California bond measure to a new gold rush for the state.
Studies have conjectured that Proposition 71 could lead to as much as $10 billion in long-term economic gains for California, fueling job growth and strengthening the local biotechnology industry. While pro-life controversies challenge embryonic (using live embryos) stem cell research, the congressional stem cell initiative – spearheaded by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) who battles Hodgkins lymphoma – is pending in the Senate and faces probable veto by President Bush.
Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee, California
California's 10-year stem cell research program will be overseen by a 29-member committee which will direct the new California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which will be funded by $300 million a year of state bond money for grants, loans and laboratories. The Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee voted to base California’s stem cell research out of San Francisco over Emeryville, San Diego, and Sacramento.
San Francisco Biotechnology Firms Partner With Bay Area Schools
As an increasing number of experimental biotech drugs turn into marketed products, California biotech firms are attracting trained manufacturing operators and scientists through university and high school outreach programs. Biotech companies such Applied Biosystems of Foster City are showering Bay Area schools and community colleges with used equipment, supplies, funding and technical aid to help train the mid-level workforce. Kids as young as 16 are starting their professional training at Bay Area high schools through biotech programs where they analyze their own DNA and perform bacterial cloning experiments.
Many of these students head straight to four-year colleges that offer courses in biotechnology in the Bay Area. Some biotech companies such as Genentech Inc. in South San Francisco cover course tuition of employees who want to pursue college or graduate degrees as they work.
Bay Area Biotechnology Education Consortium
Today, there are six regional organizations to support high school biotech programs, with help from companies, universities and charitable organizations. Those six groups, covering Marin County, the East Bay, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and independent schools, cooperate under an umbrella group called the Bay Area Biotechnology Education Consortium.
Those efforts dovetail with community college programs, which in 1997 formed their own umbrella group, the California Community College Biotech Initiative. The laboratories for these programs contain millions of dollars worth of equipment and materials donated by California biotech companies.
Biotechnology Research Center in Emeryville, California
Chiron is a pioneering biotechnology company - headquartered in Emeryville ( South San Francisco’s biotech center), California - creating products that prevent and treat diseases and transform global health. Applying an advanced understanding of cancer and infectious disease, Chiron creates products that address major m edical needs and improve people’s lives.
The company has maintained and broadened its focus on infectious-disease research since its groundbreaking work with hepatitis B antigens in the early 1980s. The Emeryville campus, which includes the award-winning Life Sciences Center, is the site of Chiron's biotechnology, oncology, hepatitis and HIV research, as well as executive and administrative offices and manufacturing facilities.
