University of California, San Francisco

THE UNIVERSITY OF California, San Francisco (UCSF), is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dental, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world. UCSF Medical Center is consistently ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. Founded in 1873, the mission of UCSF is to serve as a “public university dedicated to saving lives and improving health.” UCSF has developed a reputation for unique interdisciplinary collaboration between the health science disciplines, which has led to some of the most important discoveries in the biosciences. The graduate—focused environment of UCSF, its relatively small size, and its culture of collaboration allow for a flexibility to translate new discoveries into new treatments that are hard to find even at many of the world's other top medical centers.

The UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine (IRM) combines the talents of molecular biologists, developmental and cell biologists, neurobi—ologists, immunologists, and cancer researchers. Their efforts, organized around research areas, are aimed at gaining a better understanding of how defined types of tissues develop and are directed toward cell—based approaches to the treatment of disease. These insights will shape and direct potential therapies, which will be tested and refined in UCSF—based clinical trials.

The IRM's organization is designed to foster collaborations derived from work on different organs and tissue systems. Accordingly, the laboratories and research efforts are organized along a series of pipelines, each focusing on a particular tissue or organ system, and including basic research as well as translational research directed toward clinical applications. Seven different pipelines, based on extensive research and clinical strength, have been developed. These include: hematopoiesis, musculoskeletal, neural, cardiovascular, pancreas and liver, epithelial, and reproductive. The IRM is also the home of UCSF's Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center and Program in Craniofacial and Mes—enchymal Biology. The IRM is supervised by Dr. Arnold Kriegstein, director, and Dr. Rik Derynck, codirector. The faculty members who participate in the IRM have diverse research or clinical programs. These programs all focus on aspects of stem cell biology, cell and tissue differentiation, or cell—based therapies and thus span a range of activities ranging from basic research to translational and clinical research activities. The IRM's goal is to bring together these different investigators into a highly interactive atmosphere.

[Page 578]UCSF has received $1,152,431 from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to fund a training program for stem cell scholars. Four clinical fellows, six graduate students, and six postdoctoral fellows are funded. This program will be the cornerstone of stem cell training at UCSF and in the surrounding community. The university's outstanding, tightly integrated basic and clinical research community will serve as the foundation for stimulating, teaching, and mentoring the next generation of stem cell investigators. The trainees will emerge with a rich understanding of stem cell biology within the fundamental context of development, cell signaling, and cell function, and its potential clinical applications in areas such as neurological injury and neu—rodegenerative disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and metabolic disease, musculoskeletal degeneration and repair, reproductive disorders, cancer, and organ regeneration.

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