California Stem Cell Report: Growing Stem Cells and …

California's nearly 10-year-old effort to develop therapies from stem cells is riding a technology wave that some folks are saying will pick up considerable momentum this year.

That is good news for the state's $3 billion stem cell agency, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which will run out of cash for new grants in 2017 and which is looking for new sources of revenue from the private sector.

He said five clear themes emerged and one involved regenerative medicine. Temple, a former San Francisco Chronicle columnist, quoted James Canton, CEO of the Institute for Global Futures, as saying major strides are in the offing for 2014. In an email to Temple, Canton said,

Another one of Temple's futurists, David Houle, author of The Shift Age, said that sometime between now and 2020, 'our replacementparts will be superior to the parts we are born with.'

Whether the forecasts are correct or whether the IPO trend will continue is a bit beside the point for the stem cell agency. What they can profit from is the fact that this kind of news generates excitement among investors and among those who might be willing to make a major bet on the Golden State's stem cell agency. Fund-raising becomes easier when the public rhetoric is more than optimistic. The band wagon effect takes hold. The visions of hope that entranced 59 percent of California voters in 2004 when they created the stem cell agency seem much closer to reality.

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California Stem Cell Report: Growing Stem Cells and ...