Wealthy supporters back Calif. stem cell research

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine may be mired in legal battles with conservatives opposed to embryonic stem cell research but there's a lineup of wealthy benefactors who have willingly donated tens of millions of dollars to get it up and running. The Wall Street Journal counts Ray Dolby of Dolby Laboratories, developer Eli Broad, Kleiner Perkins' John Doerr and bond-fund wizard Bill Gross as among the most prominent. Their funding has allowed the institute to move into new quarters and hire new staffers in anticipation of winning the lawsuits, now at the appeals stage. And USC and UC San Francisco have been winning donations as well to finance their own stem cell projects.

- read the report on the donors from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)