Ruckus in $68 Million, Neuro Disease Round at California Stem Cell/Gene Therapy Agency

UC applicants unhappy that tie vote means denial of $12 million

CIRM’s ReMind program is scheduled to give away $68 million tomorrow. CIRM graphic

Five University of California (UC) scientists are protesting a tie score by the folks who make the de facto judgments about who receives multimillion-dollar awards from the multibillion-dollar California stem cell agency. 

As a result, the scientists say they are being unfairly denied approval of their application, part of which a CIRM review summary describes as “amazing.”  CIRM, of course, is the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state's $12 billion stem cell and gene therapy program.

The scientists’ application is among the 26 in CIRM’s first round of awards aimed at discovering “mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders leading to identification and validation of novel targets and biomarkers.” 

The anonymous application reviewers, who met behind closed dollars, approved five applications for funding at levels ranging up to $17.4 million. Twelve applications have been rejected outright in this round. Nine have been placed in a category (tier two) that allows them to respond to reviewer critiques and resubmit the proposals later. (See here for scoring details.)

“We believe we have been subjected to an ambiguous decision process,” said the UC researchers in a letter appealing the outcome of a tie vote on their $12 million application (DISC4-16337).

“In baseball, a tie goes to the runner. In football, a tie goes to the receiver,” the letter said.