UC Irvine Gets $10M for Stem Cell Research

IRVINE, Calif. – A wealthy bond trader and his wife will donate $10 million to the University of California, Irvine, for stem-cell research, much of it for a proposed research building.

About $2 million will be allocated to support human embryonic stem cell research at the university, said Bill Gross of Newport Beach, founder and chief investment offier of Newport Beach-based investment firm PIMCO.

Another $8 million will be a matching gift for a proposed stem cell research center, he said.

“Despite its understandable controversy, there is so much promise in stem-cell research,” said Gross.

Scientists hope stem cell research will lead to cures to diseases that afflict millions of people, but social conservatives liken the research to abortion because the process of extracting stem cells from a days-old embryo results in its death.

The gift is a big lift to the university’s efforts to compete with science centers in San Diego, Los Angeles and the Bay Area for money to study stem cells.