Robertson Foundation gifts NYSCF $27 million

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) has received a grant of $27 million from the Robertson Foundation, established by Julian and Josie Robertson.

The Robertson Foundation gift, in addition to other support, will provide funding for NYSCF-Robertson Investigators in NYSCF's new Early Career Investigator Awards Program and the creation of the NYSCF-Robertson Stem Cell Prize.

This award program, for outstanding early career investigators from the US and around the world, builds on the highly successful NYSCF Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. It will provide young stem cell scientists, who often have difficulty obtaining traditional support for their work, with critical seed funding at the crucial next stage of their career as they launch their independent laboratories.

Julian Robertson said, "We have enormous respect for The New York Stem Cell Foundation and the impact of its translational work, and are proud to partner with NYSCF to nurture a new generation of scientists who will advance stem cell research to the next level."

"The Early Career Investigator Awards Program will support early career scientists who are exceptionally creative thinkers, focusing on 'high risk/high reward' stem cell-based research projects that have the potential to significantly impact translational research and accelerate the path from bench to bedside," says Susan L. Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of NYSCF.

Additional details of the Early Career Investigators program will be announced to the scientific community in June 2010.