[Jimambol]

Corzine delivers stem cell 'present'

Declaring he had a "great present to deliver,'' Gov. Jon Corzine today signed legislation that will provide $270 million in funding to build stem cell research centers and facilities for cancer and biomedical research in New Jersey.

Corzine signed the legislation at the Statehouse in Trenton before a standing-room only audience of stem cell research advocates, which included a handful of people with spinal cord injuries.

"Stem cell research has the potential to save and extend lives and lead us to cures that have previously been beyond our grasp,'' said Corzine. "This investment will position New Jersey as a world leader in cutting edge research and yield results that could touch lives around the globe.''

Senate President Richard J. Codey (D-Essex), a prime sponsor of the legislation, said, "Today, our efforts have the potential to impact people the world over, in ways we can't yet imagine. The true scope of this initiative may not be felt for a decade or even longer - when people around the world live vastly improved lives because of the work that will be done right here in New Jersey. For over a century, this has been our legacy as a state and today we are preserving it.''

The next step in the 4-year-old effort to make New Jersey a leading stem cell research state, Corzine and legislators said, is to seek voter approval next November of a referendum that would provide about $230 million for research grants.

Under the measure signed today, $150 million will go to build a Stem Cell Institute connected with Rutgers University in New Brunswick. The New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark will receive $50 million for stem cell research facilities, the Garden State Cancer Center in Belleville will receive $10 million for a cancer research center, and the Eli Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Program in Allendale will receive $10 million for cord blood collection in support of stem cell research. A biomedical research consortium in Camden composed of Rutgers, the Coriell Institute for Medical Research, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, South Jersey Campus, will receive $50 million.

Contributed by Tom Hester