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San Francisco Getting Stem Cell Agency HQ

Posted by timothy on from the root-cells-are-in-the-basement dept.

karvind writes "San Francisco was chosen Friday as the headquarters for California's new stem cell agency, beating out San Diego, Sacramento and Emeryville. The stem cell institute was created in November after voters overwhelmingly approved a measure allowing the state to borrow $3 billion to fund human embryonic stem cell research. According to Yahoo, the plans call for a 17,000-square-foot office with a maximum of 50 employees who will help dole out nearly $300 million in research grants annually over 10 years."

5 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. They gave up a lot of freebies to land this... by jeblucas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Heard about it on NPR. Free rent, free furniture, plasma screens, etc. All for 50 bureaucrats that won't actually do any research--they are strictly oversight. SF is hoping the Center will attract biotech firms to set up offices and labs in the city. A "prestige" coup. I kind of doubt it. You can get a lot more labspace a LOT cheaper not too far away. Not to mention the fact that a lot of biotech companies (Amgen, Genentech, IDEC, &c.) already have big centers in the state and don't need to set up facilities to land the bids.

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    blarg.
    1. Re:They gave up a lot of freebies to land this... by Caseyscrib · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah... The article is very poorly written. Take a look at this one, which explains a few more details.

      All the finalists offer free rent and a wide range of incentives that include free office furniture, free parking and free gym memberships for agency employees.

      I don't live in SF, nor have I been following the proposal, but this seems like a big waste of money. Since when do benefits such as free gym memberships for employees have to do with anything? This place isn't even doing any research, they are merely organizing who gets the money. This sounds like its corrupt from the start. "Want some money? Too bad, you're not on the list."

  2. Re:Biggest story of the day by Aqua+OS+X · · Score: 2, Interesting

    hands down?

    erm. This Stem Cell Agency is going to have a fairly big impact on the SF economy. Google being hacked doesn't nearly have as big of an impact.

    I could give two sh*ts about Googling being hacked... and I'm a web developer.

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  3. Re:"Ban" by Rakishi · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Because everyone benefits and uses the research, not just people in that state?

    Also, that doesn't do anything for your first question. What is the difference between a few people in DC and even fewer people in some state capital?

  4. Re:"Ban" by Fortunato_NC · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Left to its own devices to decide what medical treatments to pursue, the pharmacuetical industry delivered two hair loss prevention treatments and three different erection pills. While that's undoubtedly a benefit to bald guys who can't get it up, we're lucky that federal research dollars are used to find cures for diseases that are not as "commercially viable". If we depended on "the market" for everything, we'd still be using dirt trails and Indian guides for transportation, since no one would find the ROI of an interstate appealing.

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