UCLA’s Alpha Clinic and the CTSI are dedicated to stem cell research and strive to support CIRM research on campus
Thinking of applying for a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) this fall or in 2026? The UCLA Health Alpha Clinic offers a free consultation service to investigators eyeing CIRM funds.
After determining which CIRM funding opportunity is best suited to their project, investigators can request a consult by completing the UCLA CIRM Funding Opportunity Interest Survey. The Alpha Center will then refer investigators to the appropriate experts for guidance and advice.
In partnership with the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), the UCLA Health Alpha Clinic works to effectively and efficiently drive novel stem cell therapies to clinical trials and ultimately change clinical practice. The Alpha Clinic is dedicated to clinical trial implementation, the delivery of stem cell therapies, and supporting clinical research.
The Alpha Clinic is one of nine clinics funded by CIRM, and as a result, has a focus on helping researchers pursue stem-cell related research. The Alpha Clinic also has a number of resources and partnerships to leverage in helping study teams and researchers, such as the Broad Stem Cell Research Center (BSCRC), the Human Gene and Cell Therapy Facility, and support from the CTSI including regulatory affairs, scientific review, data and safety monitoring, study activation, community outreach, and more.
CIRM intends to award more research funding in 2025 than in any other year in its two-decade existence, said Laurie Shaker-Irwin, one of the Alpha Clinic’s directors. To keep abreast of opportunities, researchers can subscribe to the CIRM News e-mail list to receive timely funding announcements. Opportunities also are posted on CIRM’s website.
The CIRM application process differs in some key ways from the processes for NIH or NSF grants. For example, due to a high volume of applications, CIRM has been using a two-step review process in which only applications that receive a positive pre-review advance to final review.
Before requesting a consult from the Alpha Clinic, Dr. Shaker-Irwin encourages interested parties to check the CIRM preferences and priorities, along with the allowable and unallowable activities listed in the Program Announcements to see whether the proposed research will be advantageously reviewed in the current competitive funding cycles. “It is important that potential applicants review the program announcements in their entirety and ensure that their research qualifies for CIRM funding,” Dr. Shaker-Irwin said.
Once researchers review the program announcement and confirm that their research project is a good fit for the CIRM funding opportunity, they may complete the UCLA CIRM Funding Opportunity Interest Survey for initial internal guidance, connection with the BSCRC, and referrals to other relevant UCLA experts.
“It is important that researchers contact the UCLA Health Alpha Clinic early on when considering CIRM funding. Our respective teams (the Alpha Clinic or BSCRC) match applicants with the required expertise for both pre-clinical and clinical development, including on-site manufacturing of these complex regenerative medicine, gene and cell therapies,” Dr. Shaker-Irwin said.
The exact services provided by these teams are contingent on the type of CIRM grant application for which the investigator is applying, as well as the investigator’s resource needs. The Alpha Clinic team will ask targeted questions about investigators' resource and expertise needs in their first discussion with them, with the interest survey as a kicking-off point.
Dr. Shaker-Irwin reiterates that the Alpha Clinic is here to support UCLA researchers in these challenging times and that the Alpha Clinic partnerships will do their best to provide the required information and assistance in a timely manner so that UCLA applications and subsequent research operations have the highest potential for success.