On Sept. 25, 2025, The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has approved awarding more than $73 million across 23 grants to support discovery research projects in regenerative medicine at institutions throughout California.

These awards—approved at the September meeting of the Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee (“the Board’)—will fund early-stage research intended to spark the new ideas and tools that are the first step in developing novel disease therapies. CIRM increased funding allocated to this round of grants from $37 million to $74 million in June in response to research funding cuts affecting California institutions.

CIRM was created by voters in 2004 through California’s Proposition 71, and extended in 2020 through Proposition 14, to accelerate therapies for unmet medical needs. The agency funds stem cell and gene therapy research (collectively called regenerative medicine) from the earliest stages through clinical trials with the goal of advancing therapies for people in California and the world.

The recently approved awards, known as DISC0 Foundation Awards, are part of CIRM’s Discovery Stage Research programs. Within three years, funded projects are expected to advance the field’s understanding of stem cells and genetics in human biology and disease, develop stem cell-based tools for biomedical innovation, or unlock new applications in regenerative medicine.

The research funded in this round of DISC0 grants includes projects that seek to identify new ways to modify the human genome for treating disease, novel stem cell transplant techniques for neurodegenerative disorders in infants and young children, and investigation into the genetic basis for the higher risk of leukemia in people with Down syndrome, among many others.