The governing board of the California stem cell agency is delaying $58 million in new grants until March to wait out the poor economy and credit market.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine was created in 2004 with $3 billion in borrowing power to push stem cell research forward in the state. Since then, it has awarded almost $700 million in research and training grants to universities, institutes and research companies.

On Friday, CIRM's board members tentatively earmarked an additional $58 million for training researchers at six San Francisco-area institutions including Stanford University, the University of California, San Francisco, and UC Berkeley. But citing weaknesses in the bond market, the board opted to reassess the situation in March before financing the new projects.

The board has enough cash to support existing grant commitments through September, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.


Related stories:

CIRM cuts ten grants
[7th December 2007]

Calif. court okays stem cell funding
[17th May 2007]

California stem cell plans stalled, but alive
[8th February 2006]