Tuesday, January 12, 2016

California Stem Cell Agency Alters Grant Rules to Hasten and Improve Basic, Translational Research

A key committee of the governing board of the $3 billion California stem cell agency this morning approved changes in its grant rules in an effort to speed basic and translational research and attract higher quality applications.

The Science Subcommittee sent the changes to the full board on an 8-0 voice vote with no discussion and no public comment. The full board is expected to ratify the proposals at its Jan. 19 meeting.

The action came as the agency continued its new effort to provide more public access to important policy discussions and actions by the board's key committees. Today's meeting was accessible live on the Internet and by audiocast. For the past decade or so, only the meetings of the full board were available live on the Internet.

The new rules will cover hundreds of millions of dollars in awards for basic and translational research as well as educational training.  Hundreds of California researchers could be affected.

The proposals were based on earlier changes in clinical award rules. They are expected to strengthen the agency's ability to terminate research when milestones are not being met and establish a researcher's past performance on agency awards as a criteria for future funding. Also to be altered are rules about use of funds not spent during the award period.

The regulations are being enacted on an interim basis and will be subject to change as they wend their way through the official state regulation process.

Here is a staff memo on the rules and the full text of the agency's grant administration regulations. 

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