$27.2M to fund UCI stem cell facility

A $27.2 million donation was given to UCI Wednesday to help build a new stem cell research facility that administrators hope will be the epicenter of stem cell research in the near future, officials announced.

The Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, which governs the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, announced the donation.

The donation brings UCI’s total funds for the research facility to $46.8 million en route to the $61 million needed to build the facility, officials said.

Construction is slated to start in September and finish in the summer of 2010.

In all, the institute passed out $271 million in funding to 12 institutions statewide.

The building will serve as headquarters for all stem cell related activities at the school and centralize the university’s research and academics concerning the subject, officials said.

“With a central location, our basic, preclinical and clinical researchers can better work together, share ideas and take potential therapies from the laboratory to the clinic,” Peter Donovan, co-director of UCI’s stem cell center, said in a news release.

UCI’s three story, 61,600-square-foot research facility will house 25 laboratory-based and clinical researchers, a stem cell techniques course, a master’s program in biotechnology, as well as other programs.

“We expect the building will serve not only UCI, but also our regional partners as well as visitors from around the world,” Hans Keirstead, the co-director of the stem cell center, said in a news release.

Officials will recruit six additional faculty members to expand the stem cell program.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.