By many measures, the $3 billion California stem cell agency is a remarkable success. Only four years old, it is now the largest funding source in the world for human embryonic stem cell research. It crushed its foes in a legal battle that went all the way to the California State Supreme Court. It pioneered standards for hESC research in the United States and broke new ground with its intellectual property policies. But it now confronts a looming cash crisis as the result of the $42 billion budget shortfall in the Golden State. The stem cell agency--officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)--will run out of money next fall unless it succeeds with an unusual effort to privately market California state bonds. Article