UC Berkeley BP Grant Most Recent of Many Investments in Northern California Life Sciences

• Read the Governor's statement about the research grant.
• Read the UC Berkeley news release.

On February 1, 2007, British Petroleum (BP) announced that the UC Berkeley research consortium will be the recipient of a massive grant totaling $500 million. The funds will be used for a new research effort to develop alternative energies and to reduce the impact of energy consumption on the environment. This investment is the latest in a long series of major investments in Northern California biotechnology research.

On October 3, 2006, the National Institutes of Health announced that UCSF was chosen to be a recipient of the “Clinical and Translational Science Award.” This award will deliver $100 million to UCSF over a period of five years to establish an institute devoted to clinical and translational research. The fundamental purpose of the institute will be to translate the knowledge gained through clinical research to the creation of new therapies and treatments for patients. Researchers want to be able to research and observe treatments from “bench to bedside.” This process, however, requires an expensive, elaborate infrastructure spanning from the fundamental scientific research to lab animal testing to clinical trials. With the investment from the NIH, the Director of the Institute, Joseph McClure, aims to provide “better healthcare to more people, more quickly.”

In 2004, the state of California decided to become the nation’s leader in stem cell research with the passage of Proposition 71. Proposition 71, also known as the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, provided $3 billion in funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions. In addition, the proposition called for the establishment of an entity to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities, and other vital research opportunities. This entity is known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and on July 20, 2006, received a $150 million loan from Governor Schwarzenegger to jump-start stem cell research. CIRM is actively accepting proposals from universities and research groups to receive funding and has already made substantial investments in several areas.

UC Davis leads in the area of biofuel research. In September 2006, UC Davis received a $25 million, five-year grant from Chevron Corporation to develop affordable, renewable transportation fuels from farm and forest residues, urban wastes and crops grown specifically for energy. Ethanol and biodiesel are two such examples of alternative energies. The alternatives are needed to help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil as well as to reduce emissions of air pollution and green house gases that are contributing to global warming.

In 2000, $135 million was approved for the development and construction of the UC Davis Genome Center. The 225,000 square foot center houses research facilities for all areas of comparative, functional, and structural genomics. Research spans from protein structure-function relationships to cellular physiology, population genetics, and bioinformatics. The Center came to life in October 1999 when the UC Davis Academic Planning Council approved $40 million for the recruitment of faculty for the Center. Shortly thereafter, $95 million in funding was secured for construction of the building. $65 million came from the 1990 John Garamendi “funding mechanism,” $12 million came from a grant to the UC Davis College of Engineering from the Whitaker Foundation, and $500,000 was given by the biotechnology company Novozymes. The UC system decided to match the amount of the Novozymes gift. The UC Davis Genome Center now has 15 full-time experimental and computational faculty and12 graduate programs supported by state of the art biotechnology laboratories and research facilities. UC Davis will remain a center of research and innovation in the life sciences for many years to come.

The Bio-X program at Stanford University represents another major investment in the Northern California life sciences. The program supports, organizes, and facilitates interdisciplinary research related to bioscience and medicine. In May 2000, James H. Clark, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, donated $150 million to the Bio-X program (He later retracted $60 million in protest to President Bush’s ban on stem cell research). This investment, together with $60 million from an anonymous donor, made possible the construction of the James H. Clark Center, which serves as the core of Bio-X.

The Bio-X Program combines research in the engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, and life sciences fields. This collaboration seeks to expand research as well as integrate the public into discussions about social and ethical issues related to science. Thanks, in part, to the investment in Bio-X, Stanford University will continue to produce and educate the next generation of global scientific and medical leadership.

In 2000, Governor Gray Davis authorized $100 million in initial funding for the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3). In addition to this funding, the legislature and governor called for $2 in outside funding per $1 pledged by the state. Due to an overwhelmingly positive response, the Institute received about $3 per $1 of state money from various outside and private sources. QB3 is a joint effort between UCSF, UCB, UCSC and private industry that works to integrate our understanding of biological systems from the micro to macro levels. The six core areas that constitute the majority of the research are structure determination, high-throughput screening, genomics and proteomics, informatics, imaging, and bioengineering. The institute aims to train the next generation of quantitative and biomedical scientists.

Investments in the Northern California life sciences have been substantial and continuous, creating one of the richest and broadest research centers for biotechnology in the world. Northern California will continue to produce some of the finest and most innovative research and technologies, thanks, in part, to the generous investments in recent years. The BP grant to UC Berkeley will help position California as the leading center for alternative energy research in the country.