AI Summary
This article discusses a QB3-led team receiving a $12 million grant to explore the origins of autism using advanced cellular models called "neural organoids." The team includes researchers from UC campuses at Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. The grant was awarded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) as part of their ReMIND-L (DISC 4) program, aimed at accelerating the discovery of mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders. The goal is to identify and validate novel targets and biomarkers, providing new avenues for translational and clinical investigations. This initiative emphasizes interdisciplinary collaborations and knowledge-sharing among researchers and stakeholders.
A QB3-led team uniting researchers from the University of California campuses at Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz was awarded a $12 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to investigate the origins of autism using sophisticated cellular models called “neural organoids.”
This grant is the first funding brought in by QB3’s Collaborative Research initiative, which was recently created to address major challenges in human health by leveraging research talent and resources across the UC campuses served by QB3.
We are grateful for the support provided by the CIRM team to craft a highly successful application and for recognizing the potential of our proposed work. QB3 has long supported entrepreneurship across the UC system, and QB3-affiliated scientists generate impressive results. But we realized that a centralized group coordinating research talent from diverse fields could achieve much more than the individual labs could by themselves. We look forward to many more such projects in the future.”
David Schaffer, PhD, QB3’s executive director and a UC Berkeley professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering
The $12 million grant was awarded through CIRM’s ReMIND-L (DISC 4) program, a new initiative designed to accelerate the discovery of mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders leading to the identification and validation of novel targets and biomarkers. The goal is to provide new avenues and rigorous foundations for future translational and clinical investigations. To achieve this, the ReMIND Program will catalyze innovative, cross-disciplinary collaborations and support broad knowledge-sharing among research scientists and other stakeholders.