Members of the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine officially broke ground today on a stem cell research center on Torrey Pines Mesa.
The stem cell center will be built right next door to the Salk Institute at a cost of $127 million. A good part of that cost is borne by California taxpayers, who approved stem cell research funding in 2004. Ed Holmes is president of the Sanford Consortium. He said the center will provide labs and offices for stem cell scientists from the Burnham and Salk Institutes, UCSD and Scripps Research Institute.
"It's been really gratifying to see that we're really going to be able to bring together, in one spot, these four institutions and the scientists who work there to do something very important," said Holmes.
San Diego stem-cell researchers are exploring ways to cure diabetes and Lou Gehrig's disease, among many other illnesses.
