CIRM-funded USC+CHLA Alpha Clinic boosts capacity for clinical and translational research, community outreach, training and manufacturing
By Wayne Lewis – Keck School of Medicine of USC
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s stem cell agency, has awarded a five-year, $8 million grant to the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). The USC+CHLA Alpha Clinic will expand personnel dedicated to advancing clinical trials of new cell and gene therapies, engaging underserved communities in such studies, and training the workforce that conducts them. It will also create opportunities to collaborate and exchange expertise with a network of CIRM-funded Alpha Clinics at eight other top biomedical research institutions statewide. The new program will advance CIRM’s goal of getting new cell and gene therapies to all Californians.
This new CIRM-supported program capitalizes on distinctive strengths and capabilities at the Keck School of Medicine and CHLA. The institutions have cultivated a large slate of cell and gene therapy research projects ranging from basic studies to investigational treatments poised to enter patient testing, and a track record of success engaging people from local underserved communities in research to improve their health.