On Mar. 27, 2023, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Board approved investing nearly $26 million in 17 projects in early-stage discovery research.

The awards were from CIRM’s DISC-0: Foundation Awards Program, which supports rigorous studies addressing critical basic knowledge gaps in the biology of stem cells and regenerative medicine approaches and to advance stem cell-based tools.

Approximately 60,000 Californians die of cancer each year. While successes have been reported using T-cell therapy to cure blood cancers, many patients are unable to access this novel therapy, and there are additional challenges to their use for treating solid tumors such as brain cancer.