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UCI to hire 5 Stem Cell Scientists

UC Irvine says it will create five new faculty positions for stem cell biologists, hoping to expand and deepen the university’s work in one of the fastest growing branches of biomedical research.

The hirings also are meant to capitalize on the momentum of UCI’s Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, which has collected $17.5 million in state funds for such work. The center, led by biologists Hans Keirstead and Peter Donovan, also has raised $12 million in private donations, making it one of the most heavily funded centers of its kind in the country.

The research center has primarily been working with human embryonic stem cells ((hESCs), an area where it wants to expand further. But it’s been struggling for more than a year recruit more hESC scientists, partly because there are comparatively few of them.

Donovan says, “The new positions are to be filled with people working more generally on stem cell biology — from basic biology to more applied or translational work.

“The schedule for hiring is two in the next year, two the year after and one a year after that. … Because UCI is one of the fastest growing UC campuses it can make this type of commitment - others will not be able to do so at all or so easily.”

Campus officials say adding five stem cell biologists in the School of Biological Sciences represents a commitment of roughly $17 million over a 10-year period. Much of that figure is money that UCI will need to raise to build a permanent $60 million home for the research center.