The three-year grant is the second UCSB has received from CIRM
to support the training of pre-doctoral and postdoctoral
students in stem cell biology and stem cell ethics. The new
grant will make it possible for students to participate in
groundbreaking research in two broad but interrelated areas: the
fundamental molecular biology of stem cell proliferation and
differentiation, and bioengineering approaches to develop novel
biotechnologies for stem cell research. The first training grant
was awarded in 2006. "It will allow us to recruit the best and
the brightest postdoctoral and graduate students," Dennis O.
Clegg, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular,
Cellular, and Developmental Biology at UCSB, said of the CIRM
award. Clegg also co-directs the UCSB Center for Stem Cell
Biology and Engineering. The grant also provides for additional
educational activities, such as seminars that will explore novel
interdisciplinary biotechnologies, courses in stem cell biology
and stem cell ethics, video confe