UC Santa Barbara has received a $1.2 million training grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to continue an interdisciplinary training program in stem cell biology and engineering. The three-year grant will make it possible for pre-doctoral and postdoctoral students to participate in groundbreaking research in two broad but interrelated areas: the fundamental molecular biology of stem cell proliferation and differentiation, and bioengineering approaches to develop novel biotechnologies for stem cell research.

UCSB stem cell researchers, working with Minerva Biotechnologies, recently reported that a cleaved form of MUC1, a transmembrane mucin protein aberrantly expressed in most solid human tumors, acts as a growth factor receptor on undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells. Lead author Sherry Hikita and coworkers show that activation of MUC1* stimulates growth of hESC and therefore may prove useful in culture and maintenence of hESC cell lines.

UC Santa Barbara has been awarded $3.2 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in support of the development of a state-of-the-art facility in the newly established Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering at UCSB.

These articles explain the importance and impact of a $3 million donation from Amgen founder William Bowes on UCSB stem cell research through the establishment of the Ruth Garland Chair.