San Diego's stem cell research center is due to break ground next week. But a similar stem cell center already opened for business this week in Sacramento.
UC Davis spent $61 million to turn a warehouse on Sacramento's old state fairgrounds into its Institute for Regenerative Cures. The institute is one of a dozen planned research centers in California being funded, in large part, by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
The UC Davis research center will house 200 stem cell scientists. They'll focus on a wide range of therapies, which include efforts to replace corneas and reconstruct bladders.
Stem cells are immature cells that can, theoretically, be engineered to replace any cell in the body. Stem cell research and lab construction in California is paid for by prop 71, which was passed by voters in 2004.
