May 11, 2006 2:26 PM

UCSF Gets $16M for Stem Cell Research

“Sound legend” Ray Dolby has donated $16 million to a stem cell research center at the University of California at San Francisco days after the university said it was continuing efforts to clone human embryos, according to Paul Elias at the Associated Press. The Nexis version of this story included a paragraph that has apparently […]

"Sound legend" Ray Dolby has donated $16 million to a stem cell research center at the University of California at San Francisco days after the university said it was continuing efforts to clone human embryos, according to Paul Elias at the Associated Press.

The Nexis version of this story included a paragraph that has apparently been edited out by Forbes:

The Institute for Regeneration Medicine, which was previously called the Institute for Stem Cell and Tissue Biology, will be the primary stem cell research center on campus.

The renaming is significant because it reflects the very difficult PR task embryonic stem cell research advocates face.

Elias quotes Dolby as saying:

"The discovery of stem cells was a wonderful thing but, unfortunately, this name by itself does not seem to very well suggest what is happening or how," Dolby said, referring to the renamed institute in a written statement. "Moreover, the term 'stem cell' seems to have acquired a negative meaning with some people."

P.S. Here's a version in the San Jose Mercury News with that paragraph intact.

Topicsstem cells Bodyhack

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