Reporter Bradley J. Fikes of the North County Times in San Diego County wrote about 32 of them, including some from fields such as bioengineering, bioinformatics and chemistry. Among other things, Fikes said that ethical training occupies one-third of the curriculum in this particular program.
Fikes quoted Larry Goldstein, director of UC San Diego's stem cell program, as telling the scholars that they have an obligation to become missionaries – not Goldstein's word – for ESC research. Goldstein said:
"Some of you have been studying fish and flies and things that go bump in the night. It's not always obvious to the public how this relates to humans. For better or worse, the world is watching us, not just in San Diego, but in California."
