One of the world’s largest institutions dedicated to regenerative medicine has awarded $5.4 million to expand stem cell research at UC Merced.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine awarded the money to fund a program at UC Merced called RESTORE: Resources for Expanding Stem cell-derived Tissues and Organs for Regenerative Engineering.
According to a UC Merced news release, the $5.4 million grant is part of $27 million the institute’s using to fund six new Shared Resources Laboratories.
The money will support research in vascular models and human stem cells.That’s important because stem cells are key to how doctors can treat a variety of ailments and injuries.
For example, stem cells can be used to create any cell in the body, replace damaged cardiac tissue and grow new blood vessels, among other uses, the release said.
UC Merced’s Shared Resource Lab will be led by a team that includes lead principal investigator Kara McCloskey, molecular and cell biology Professor Jennifer Manilay and electrical engineering Professor Changqing Li, with project scientist David Gravano serving as the facility’s technical director.
“The laboratory will be the newest addition to the UC Merced Office of Research and Economic Development’s core facilities, which are laboratories with specialized equipment and services available to all UC Merced researchers and external partners,” Manilay said in the release.
The lab will use human-induced pluripotent stem cells to build and direct blood vessels and tissues. It also will generate and offer new human stem cell products that will be available for all researchers at UC Merced and other institutions.
Three distinct intensive summer courses will be hosted by the lab. Researchers expect it to create new collaborations and foster ideas for stem cell research projects at the university.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine was established in 2004 through Proposition 71, the “California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative,” and extended with Proposition 14 in 2020.
UC Merced has benefitted from several grants from the institute over the years, some of which supported the university’s Stem Cell Instrumentation Foundry.