Signature Drive Ends for $5.5 Billion California Stem Cell Initiative; Will it Qualify for the Ballot?

Backers of a $5.5 billion ballot initiative to save the California stem cell research program from financial extinction said today that they had finished their petition drive to qualify the measure for the November ballot and expressed confidence that they had the more than 600,000 signatures needed. 

The announcement came after the campaign had missed three of its self-imposed deadlines for collecting 950,000 signatures as well as the state-recommended deadline of April 21.  The campaign said that the petitions have been delivered to county election officials around the state for verification of the signatures, a lengthy process that must be completed by June 15. If the work is not finished by then, the measure will not appear on the ballot. 

The initiative needs 623,212 valid signatures to qualify. The campaign's news release today said it had 925,000, down from its goal of 950,000. However, disqualification rates can run as high as 50 percent. Early last month after its public signature-gathering was halted because of coronavirus restrictions, it said had only 915,000. The campaign then kicked off what it called an "unprecedented," Internet, mail-in campaign to solicit signatures.  Later it began a direct mail effort, also unusual for an initiative qualification drive. 

The stem cell agency was created in 2004 by another ballot initiative and financed with $3 billion in state borrowing. It is now running out of money and will begin closing down in the fall if substantial funding is not received. 

Robert Klein, chairman of the campaign, said he was "confident" that the campaign had enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. He said, 

“Submitting signatures in time to qualify for the general election would not have been possible without our coalition of patient advocates, who banded together to help us
overcome the unprecedented challenge of signature gathering during a global pandemic – the effort is emblematic of our movement that has been widely supported and driven by patients and their families from the beginning”

Klein, who led the 2004 ballot campaign that created the agency, also cited the $5 million special, Covid-19, grant round now being conducted by the stem cell agency as example of the valuable work performed by the agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

One of the recipients of  a $750,000 award in the covid round, John Zaia of the City of Hope, was quoted in the campaign news release as saying,  

“We could be on the brink of medical discoveries that could save the lives of patients impacted by Covid-19 and other diseases, and this research simply would not be possible without the initial investment Californians made in the state’s stem cell program in 2004.

“Now, it is absolutely critical that this investment is renewed, allowing researchers like myself to continue to discover treatments and cures that can improve or save the lives of patients today and for generations to come.”

The City of Hope and many other recipient institutions have had a seat on the CIRM governing board since its inception.  According to CIRM figures, the City of Hope has received $117 million in grants since 2005. Zaia has received $33 million. 

The process of verifying and counting signatures is tedious under normal circumstances. County officials are now further hampered by work-related restrictions created by the coronavirus crisis. 

It is not clear whether enough signatures can be verified by June 25. That's the state deadline for qualifying for the November ballot. Two other unrelated initiatives failed or were withdrawn yesterday, state election officials said. Ironically one of the proposals would have allowed for the gathering of signatures online as a way to speed the task. 

The campaign has removed from its web site the outdated information concerning its petition solicitation effort, including the phrase "time is running out," which ran on its home page. But here is a link to the petition page from April 22 as archived by the California Stem Cell Report:  

Skating Past Deadlines: $5.5 Billion Stem Cell Campaign Silent on Critically Needed Signatures

Backers of a $5.5 billion stem cell research proposal this week dodged past another critical, but self-imposed deadline for placing the measure before California voters. They eliminated it. 

It was the fourth deadline that the campaign has either missed or eliminated. The move came as the campaign itself has noted.

"Time is running out."

The ballot initiative -- if it makes the fall ballot and is approved by voters -- would save the state stem cell agency from financial extinction. Originally funded in 2004 with $3 billion in borrowed state money, the agency is expected to be down to its last $26 million by the end of the day today. Formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the agency is expected to award $1.0 million this morning for Covid-19 research. 

The campaign is seeking 950,000 signatures of registered voters to qualify its initiative for the ballot. As of early this month, it said it had 915,000 but has remained mum since then on the number of signatures it has gathered. 

Legally, the measure needs 623,212 signatures of registered voters. Typically, however, a high percentage of signatures collected for initiatives are disqualified, sometimes as high as 50 percent. 

State election officials recommend that the signature petitions be submitted to election officials in 58 counties by April 21 to allow officials to perform the time-consuming work of verifying hundreds of thousands of signature. County election offices, however, are hard hit by stay-at-home, Covid-19 restrictions affecting their operations. If the verification work is not completed by June 15, the initiative will not be placed on the ballot. 

The campaign has laid out its changing deadlines on a web page exhorting supporters to engage in an unusual Internet and mail-in petition effort. Earlier this week, after the campaign missed its third deadline, wording on the page was changed to remove a specific date. As of this writing, the latest "deadline"  exhortation said, 

"The campaign must gather the last 35,000 signatures through mail-in submissions ASAP."

On Wednesday, the campaign told the California Stem Cell Report it would be submitting petitions to county officials "in the next two weeks." The campaign did not respond this morning by the time of this writing to questions about the signature-gathering effort. However, one Santa Barbara resident told us that he received a petition packet this morning in standard postal mail from the campaign asking him to sign the petition and return it to the campaign. 

(As this item was being posted, the campaign emailed a response concerning the status of its signature-gathering. However, the statement only repeated what the campaign said days earlier and did not contain any new information.)

Supporters of $5.5 Billion California Stem Cell Measure Miss Third Deadline, Including One Recommended by the State

Backers of a $5.5 billion, California stem cell research proposal this morning once again missed their self-imposed, but important deadline for qualifying the measure for the ballot this fall in hopes of saving the financial life of the state stem cell agency. 

It was the third time that the ballot initiative campaign has missed its own deadlines for gathering signatures as time is running out. The first deadline was April 11. The second deadline was April 18. The third deadline was April 21 (yesterday). The next deadline is April 23 (tomorrow).

Yesterday was also the deadline recommended by state election officials for submitting the signatures to all of California's 58 counties.  The state's recommendation is not a legal cutoff, but appears aimed at ensuring enough time exists to complete the lengthy certification process for the November ballot.

The proposed ballot initiative would refinance the state stem cell agency, known formally as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). It is running out of its original $3 billion and is expected to begin closing its doors next fall. 

The campaign, which is independent of the agency, had little to say about its signature-gathering problems. The California Stem Cell Report this morning asked the campaign how many signatures it has on hand.  Sarah Melbostad, a spokeswoman for the campaign, replied:

"They are still in the process of counting them but we will let you know as soon as we have an updated number to share."

It was not clear whether the campaign actually knows how many signatures it currently has or whether, on the other hand, it has an actual number but is simply not releasing it publicly. The campaign did not respond to a question this morning on that matter. 

Several weeks ago, the campaign said it had 915,000 signatures. That was when it set its April 11 deadline to secure 35,000 more. It needs only 623,212 to qualify for the ballot, but many signatures are disqualified as elections official in each county checks to see whether the signatures represent actual registered voters. 

Melbostad said, 

"We’re continuing to get petitions in the mail every day from our patient advocacy-driven and direct-mail signature gathering efforts. The campaign is planning to submit signatures to the counties in the next two weeks to ensure that the counties and the state have sufficient time to count and verify signatures for the November ballot."

If election officials have not certified the necessary signatures by June 15, the stem cell measure will not appear on the ballot. The certification process can be prolonged and likely more so under the difficult conditions imposed by the coronavirus crisis. 

State election officials provide recommended deadlines under normal conditions for submitting petitions to qualify ballot measures. They depend on the method used for qualification: random sampling or "full check." Under the random sample method, the recommendation is to submit petitions to county election officials by yesterday (April 21). Under the full check method, March 3 was the recommended deadline. 

Two Deadlines Missed by Supporters of $5.5 Billion, California Stem Cell Measure

Backers of a $5.5 billion stem cell research proposal in California today have once again missed a self-imposed, but critical deadline as they continue to struggle with securing enough signatures to place the measure on the November ballot.

The campaign's website this morning listed what is now its third deadline for gathering the signatures of 950,000 voters. Previously, the campaign had set an April 11 deadline and then an April 18 deadline. The latest deadline is tomorrow (April 21). The rolling extensions do not augur well for its "unprecedented" attempt to collect signatures via a combined online and mail-in effort. 

In response to questions from the California Stem Cell Report, Sarah Melbostad, a spokeswoman for the campaign, declined to elaborate on the campaign's progress or lack of it beyond a statement she released on Friday.

The questions ranged from just how many signatures the campaign currently has in hand to when they might be presented to election officials. (Here is a link to the text of all the questions.)

The campaign's ballot initiative is aimed at staving off the financial demise of California's stem cell agency, which has all but run out of the $3 billion that it was provided by voters in 2004, also through a ballot initiative.  Known formally as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the agency has no other significant funding source than state-issued bonds.

The coronavirus crisis has blocked the usual method of gathering of ballot initiative signatures at shopping malls and other public locations. The campaign said earlier it needed another 35,000 signatures to hit its goal of 950,000. The legal requirement is only 623,212 but many signatures are disqualified as invalid, sometimes as high as 50 percent.

Another obstacle involves officials in the state's 58 counties, who must certify the signatures. Most, if not all, are short-staffed because of the coronavirus and/or must provide a working environment that is likely to slow the signature count. If the count is not completed by June 15, the stem cell measure will not be on the November ballot and the agency will begin closing its doors.

Text of Questions to Campaign for $5.5 Billion Stem Cell Intiative

Here are the questions that the campaign for a $5.5 billion California stem cell research measure declined to address this morning. The questions were directed to the campaign by the California Stem Cell Report last Friday in connection with the campaign's then April 18 deadline for collecting signatures to qualify the measure for the fall ballot. 

• How many signatures have been gathered for presentation to election officials? Is that number based on an estimate or actual count?
• The campaign has said it has "no estimates to share." Does that mean that, in fact, it has estimates that it does not want to share? Is the campaign keeping a rolling total of signatures each day since it began its new mail-in effort?
• When will the petitions be presented to election officials?
• How long does the campaign think the count will take?
• Does the campaign plan to try to gather more signatures either beginning this week or after it receives information about the disqualification rate?
• Is there anything else I need to know?

$5.5 Billion California Stem Cell Proposal: Campaign Mum on Its Ballot Qualification Numbers

Backers of a $5.5 billion, proposed ballot measure said this morning that they still cannot provide a fresh estimate of the number of voter signatures they have in their effort to save the California stem cell research program from financial extinction.

The campaign faces a self-imposed deadline of Saturday to gather the needed signatures in its initiative petition drive, which was stymied when the coronavirus crisis hit the Golden State.  While the deadline is self-imposed, it reflects the upcoming, tedious and time-consuming pace of signature verification by county election officials, who are additionally hampered by workplace restrictions currently in place.

If county officials have not verified 623,212 signatures of registered voters by June 15, the stem cell initiative will not be placed on the ballot. The campaign has said early this month that it has 915,000 signatures and needs to collect a total of 950,000 by tomorrow. That reflected a slippage from last Saturday on an earlier deadline. 

The excess beyond 623,212 is needed because high percentages of signatures are determined to be invalid in normal petition circulation efforts, sometimes as high as 50 percent.

Responding to questions from the California Stem Cell Report, the campaign released a statement this morning that said, 

"The campaign is receiving petitions in the mail every day, however it takes time to count and verify incoming petitions. 

"While we don’t have an estimate to share, we do know that over the last week website traffic has increased, with more than 10,000 people visiting our signature gathering page....

"The campaign is aiming to give the counties as much time as possible to verify signatures. However, the landscape is changing on a daily basis, and adapting to new challenges during these uncertain times requires nimble decision-making and flexibility."

The state stem cell agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), is running out of the $3 billion it was originally provided in 2004. That was when another ballot initiative created the agency, supporting it with state bond funding. The agency has no other significant source of cash. CIRM could have asked the legislature and the governor for more financial support earlier, but such an effort would have faced a difficult political road. 

Without additional funding, the agency will begin to close its doors next fall. 

Other ballot initiatives are facing the same signature-gathering pressures in California and elsewhere in the country. The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom carried a piece yesterday looking at the issues throughout the United States. It quoted a backer of one initiative effort in California to permit collection of signatures for future initiatives electronically as saying, "It's a killer. We're done."

See here for the exact process of verifying signatures and certifying a measure for the ballot.

Correction: An earlier version of this item incorrectly said that the campaign had said that it had gathered 935,000 signatures. The correct figure is 915,000.

Time Running Out for $5.5 Billion California Stem Cell Ballot Initiative

Backers of a proposed $5.5 billion, stem cell ballot initiative are pressing on with their cyberspace campaign to assure that the measure will qualify for the November ballot despite "a landscape (that) is changing on a daily basis."

But as the campaign's website notes, "Time is running out."

No fresh figures for the number of signatures have been released since early this month. The campaign has also extended to this Thursday its self-imposed deadline for collecting 950,000 signatures. The campaign originally hoped to have the signatures in hand last Saturday.  

At stake is the financial life of the California stem cell agency, which is running out of money and is expected to begin the process of closing its doors next fall unless it receives an infusion of cash. The ballot initiative needs 623,212 signatures of registered voters to make the November ballot.  At last report, it had 935,000. However, the disqualification rate of signatures on petitions can run as high as 50 percent. 

County election officials are also working under Covid-19 conditions, which can mean a reduced work force and limited hours for verifying signatures. At some point, moreover, the mechanics of printing and delivering the ballot information that must go to nearly 20 million voters come into play for state election officials. 

Responding to a query from the California Stem Cell Report, campaign spokeswoman Sarah Melbostad released a statement yesterday that said:

"This new virtual signature gathering effort was launched just last week, and as it takes time to count the incoming signatures by mail, we do not have an updated number to share. 

"The campaign is aiming to give the counties as much time as possible to verify signatures, however the landscape is changing on a daily basis, and adapting to new challenges during these uncertain times requires nimble decision-making and flexibility. 

"Voters can continue to visit our website https://caforcures.com/help-us-qualify/ to sign the petition and learn how they can help ensure the continuation of treatments and cures that could save or improve the lives of millions."

The stem cell measure is not the only initiative that is facing problems. It could well be that the governor may take some sort of emergency action to extend deadlines for all of them. 

Earlier this month, the stem cell campaign launched an "unprecedented" electronic, mail-in effort to gather the final number of signatures that were judged to be needed. It is a daunting process to conduct online and then have the petitions returned in the mail. 

The campaign web site stresses the urgency and pressing need for more signatures. "The campaign must gather the last 35,000 signatures through mail-in submissions by April 16th," the web site says. 

A Grim Picture? Nuts and Bolts of California's Ballot Petition Pinch and $5.5 Billion for Its Stem Cell Research Program

Here is a not-so-hypothetical question: In these days of the coronavirus crisis, is it safe to touch a mailed-in petition to place a $5.5 billion stem cell research proposal on the November ballot?

While some may consider the question dubious, it is in, in fact, a real question for enterprises attempting to win a position on the ballot next fall. And it illustrates the difficulties facing backers of the proposed stem cell ballot measure, which is aimed at saving California's stem cell agency from financial extinction. 

The agency is running out of money and will begin to close its doors next fall unless more cash is coming in.

Lisa Renner wrote yesterday about California's ballot petition pinch for Capitol Weekly, a respected online news service that follows state governmental and political affairs. She said,

"It’s never easy to get initiatives qualified for the ballot, but this year of the COVID-19 pandemic is the worst ever....

"While organizations technically have until April 21 to turn in signatures to qualify for the November ballot, the shutdown effectively means that those that didn’t collect enough signatures by mid-March probably won’t make it. At best they can hope for possibly qualifying for November 2022."

Renner painted a vivid picture of the nuts-and-bolts of the petition business. She quoted Fred Kimball, owner of Kimball Petition Management.

"Kimball is faced with the challenge of confirming the signatures to make sure they are from unique registered voters. In a normal year, he said he has 75-100 people crammed in his office checking signatures. But this year, he has only six workers in house while the rest are looking at petitions from home.

"'I haven’t done this ever,' he said. 'Usually the petitions never leave the site of the office. There’s a lot of trust you put into the workers. It’s very difficult.'

"Some employees have quit because they don’t want to touch papers that have been handled by so many people and thus could be contaminated with the virus. To deal with that concern, Kimball has set a new rule that new signatures pages that come in his office must sit for one week before anyone touches them again. He also requires employees in house to wear masks and gloves."

Kimball's firm is working on the ballot proposals dealing with kidney dialysis and medical negligence. But his comments bear on any proposed initiative. 

In the case of the stem cell measure, it needs 623,212 valid signatures of registered voters to qualify for the ballot. Backers say they have 915,000 and need another 35,000 in order to account for disqualified signatures. They have launched an ambitious and "unprecedented" effort to circulate petitions via the Internet.

"Proponents usually seek at least 50 percent more than the legal minimum number of signatures to compensate for possible duplicate or otherwise invalid signatures," according to Wikipedia.

Capitol Weekly's Renner also reported on the stay-at-home orders facing county elections officials.

"Most have shut down all offices, requiring initiative supporters to set up appointments to drop off petitions. Much of their staff is also working at home, which sets up the new burden of getting the petitions to employees."

She continued,

"Joseph Holland, the Santa Barbara County clerk, recorder, assessor and registrar of voters, said his office hasn’t even finished certifying the March 3 election and is facing employees out sick and suddenly charged with taking care of their children after schools closed. “We are operating with a skeleton crew,” said Holland, who also serves as president of the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials. 

"While his employees are considered essential under the shut-down order, figuring out logistics about where they sit is an issue. They can no longer sit side by side at cubicles as that would violate the 6-foot social distance rule. “It has reduced our capacity by half.” 

"For petition signatures that come in on a single page, the county is able to scan them and electronically send them to employees working at home for validation. But the county is not able to scan petitions that come in booklet form. Those must still be validated by employees at the office, Holland said."

The verification process involves random samples, which can trigger a full check of each signature, slowing the process considerably. There is a possibility that the current legal requirements could be modified, but that change would likely involve the governor and the legislature. 

The campaign for the stem cell measure has set for itself a deadline of this Saturday to finish collection of signatures. 

Final Cyberspace Dash Underway for $5.5 Billion California Stem Cell Initiative

Above is the instructional video from the stem cell initiative campaign web site. 

The campaign to save California's stem cell research program from financial extinction is making an "unprecedented," electronic sprint to gather the final signatures to qualify its $5.5 billion rescue measure for the November ballot. 

In the next eight days, the campaign says it needs 35,000 more signatures to be sure that the multi-billion-dollar ballot initiative is presented to voters next fall. 

The stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), is running out of money. It will begin closing its doors in November without more funding.  The campaign's web site says, 

"Over 915,000 voters have already signed petitions to help qualify our initiative for the November 2020 ballot. In the last full week before public signature gathering was shut down due to the coronavirus, over 120,000 voters signed – a tremendous response. But we need at least 950,000 signatures to secure a place on the California ballot this fall. 

"Help us meet our goal by signing and returning a petition today. The campaign must gather the last 35,000 signatures through mail-in submissions by April 11th."

In response to questions from the California Stem Cell Report, campaign spokeswoman Sarah Melbostad described the online move as "unprecedented." She said,

"What’s happening right now across the world is unprecedented, which means the innovative changes we’re making to gather signatures through a mail-in option are unprecedented as well." 

The campaign's unusual Internet pitch is aimed at putting petitions in the hands of its supporters. The effort requires downloading documents, reading detailed instructions on filling them out and then returning them by regular mail. Normally, paid signature gatherers take care of all that.

The process is not simple and is likely to be daunting for some.  The campaign's web site mentions "wet signatures," the importance of printing out the 16 pages of the petition and the need to complete the "circulator declaration." A seven-minute instructional video has also been posted by the campaign (see above). 

The campaign's message stresses speed. 

"Time is of the essence; a fast response is needed to preserve our opportunity to guarantee our ballot position."

The legal minimum of valid signatures of registered voters is 623,212. The extra hundreds of thousands of signatures are needed because many are disqualified by election officials during the certification process.

The campaign's online pitch also includes a schedule of 30-minute webinars aimed at building support and answering questions. They begin tonight at 6:15 p.m. PDT and continue on April 5, 7 and 11. 

Backers of a $5.5 Billion California Stem Cell Measure Claim 915,000 Signatures, Ballot Qualification at Stake

The campaign to place a $5.5 billion, stem cell measure on the California ballot this fall says it has gathered more than enough signatures to bring it before voters. 

In response to questions from the California Stem Cell Report, a campaign spokeswoman said,

"In our last full week of signature gathering, we received 120,000 signatures, showing the tremendous support from California voters. With 915,000 signatures in hand and a new sign-from-home option that allows individuals to mail in their signatures, we’re confident that we will be able to gather the final signatures we need while, most importantly, keeping Californians safe." 

The proposal needs 623,212 valid signatures of registered voters to qualify. Because so many signatures are disqualified in the verification process, many more than the bare minimum are required. 

The next step is for the campaign to submit the signatures to election officials for verification, a process than can take a month or more under normal government operating conditions. 

The entire process has a deadline of June 15 to be completed.  

Campaign spokeswoman Sarah Melbostad said, "Voters can go to our website caforcures.com to sign the petition and ensure the continuation of treatments and cures that could save or improve the lives of millions."  

(Editor's note: An earlier item on this subject that was briefly up this afternoon  incorrectly said that the campaign had not responded to a question concerning the current number of signatures. That post has been deleted.)

California's $5.5 Billion Stem Cell Initiative: Signature Gathering Suspended Due to Coronavirus

Backers of a $5.5 billion stem cell research initiative in California have suspended their efforts to gather signatures to place it on the November ballot, but are expressing confidence that the proposal will qualify.  

In response to questions from the California Stem Cell Report, the campaign said it had run afoul of statewide bans on public gatherings. Voter signatures on petitions to place the initiative on the ballot generally require small gatherings in public places. 

The proposal is intended to refinance the California stem cell agency, which has spent nearly all of the $3 billion it was provided by voters in 2004. It will begin to close its doors next fall unless more funding is provided. 

Sarah Melbostad, a spokeswoman for Californians for Stem Cell Research, released a statement that said, 

"In keeping with the governor’s statewide order for non-essential businesses to close and residents to remain at home, we’ve suspended all signature gathering for the time being."

The statement continued, 

"We’re proud of our team and proud of the promising and significant number of signatures we’ve gathered to date – demonstrating strong support amongst voters. We’re confident that we still have time to qualify and plan to proceed accordingly."

To qualify for the ballot, the valid signatures of 623,212 registered voters are needed. Large numbers of signatures are usually disqualified during the certification process. So tens of thousands of signatures or more beyond the minimum are invariably necessary. 

The campaign originally expected to have the signatures gathered by the end of April. The campaign did not respond to a question concerning the number of signatures that it has on hand now. 

The California Stem Cell Report understands that petition circulation companies throughout the state are calling in their signatures next week. At that point, reliable figures may be available. The halt to signature gathering affects other potential ballot measures this fall. 

Here is the full text of the campaign's statement:

"In keeping with the Governor’s statewide order for non-essential businesses to close and residents to remain at home, we’ve suspended all signature gathering for the time being.

"As the COVID-19 issue is updating daily, if not hourly, we at the campaign are monitoring the situation very closely and will comply with all statewide, regional and local ordinances.

"We’re proud of our team and proud of the promising and significant number of signatures we’ve gathered to date – demonstrating strong support amongst voters.

"We’re confident that we still have time to qualify and plan to proceed accordingly.

"When faced with this current situation, we’re reminded every day how important this initiative is to save and improve the lives of millions of Californians living with chronic diseases and conditions, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, kidney disease and more."

More Grant Appeals Filed: Yamanaka Invoked

The California stem cell agency has set another benchmark, although this is one that it may not want to trot out at international stem cell gatherings.

Eight scientists whose applications were rejected for funding by the CIRM grants working group and scientific reviewers are seeking to overturn those decisions at the agency's board meeting in San Diego on Tuesday.

It is the largest number of “extraordinary petitions” ever filed and amounts to more than one out of every four applications that were turned down. The total number of applications received was 44. Fifteen were approved. Some of the researchers are likely to appear at the board meeting and make a personal pitch.

The CIRM board has budgeted $30 million for this round of grants. Regardless of the actions by the grant review group, the board can do whatever it wants with the applications, including rejecting all 44.

The board, however, almost never rejects a positive decision by reviewers and rarely overturns the judgment of the scientific reviewers who evaluate the applications during closed-door sessions.

Yesterday we carried an item on the six scientists who had filed petitions at that point. Today CIRM posted two more petitions. They are from Husein Hadeiba of the Palo Alto Institute for Research and Education, Inc.(see petition here) and Joseph Wu of Stanford(see petition here). Both focused on scientific criticism offered in the review summaries. (All the summaries can be found here. Individual reviews can be found by clicking on the number of the grant.)

In support of his appeal, Wu cited remarks this week in San Francisco by Shinya Yamanaka, winner of the prestigious Kyoto Award, also this week. Referring to criticism of his application as having an “unclear rationale,” Wu wrote,

“We believe the 'unclear rationale' is actually a 'clear rationale' and is being adopted by iPS cell pioneers such as Shinya Yamanaka and his whole team in Japan.”

We also should note that the agency seems to be moving more quickly to post these petitions, a definite improvement over past efforts.

(Editor's note: An earlier version of this item incorrectly said the applications totalled 45 and that 16 were approved.)