The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine awarded 12 academic and non-profit institutions on Wednesday with grants of some 271 million dollars to build stem-cell laboratories throughout the state, thus promoting research on human embryonic stem cells.

“This will go a long way toward medical research that could save lives and improve them for people with chronic diseases. But also, this kind of public-private investment in a growing jobs sector is exactly the kind of good news our economy needs right now,” California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement, as quoted by the San Diego Union Tribune. He further praised California for investing three times more in embryonic stem cell research than the National Institutes of Health.

The money was raised following a 2004 voter initiative strongly supported by Schwarzenegger to issue bonds worth 3 billion to fund stem-cell research, mainly into human embryonic stem cells. Through this initiative, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will provide a steady stream of stem cell research funding to scientists in California over the next 10-12 years.

As for now, Stanford University will receive the largest grant, $43.6 million, while nearly $137 million will be divided between eight University of California campuses, with UC San Francisco drawing the largest share at $34.9 million. The San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine will get $43 million, and the Buck Institute for Age Research will get $20.5 million.

According to California Institute for Regenerative Medicine President Dr. Alan Trounson, the new facilities will be geared towards speeding “the pace of research toward clinical application. California will be a landmark, it will be the epicenter of the new medicine,” he was quoted by the San Jose Mercury News.

California joins New Jersey and Connecticut, in its decision to accelerate the science with state funding. However, the funding in the other two states is poor compared with the money spent on embryonic stem cell research in California, which became the leading funding agency for embryonic stem cell research in the world, funding $157 million in grants by March 2007.

Stem cell research has been hailed for the potential to revolutionize the future of medicine with the ability to regenerate damaged and diseased organs.

On the other hand, stem cell research has long raised controversy, with Pope Benedict XVI himself condemning the human cloning and the “destruction of human embryos” because human being should not be manipulated or treated as an instrument for experiments “under no circumstances.”

His Holiness’ position against stem cell research is sustained by various religious and ethical groups sustaining that human life is sacred regardless of its stage of development. Thus the destruction of embryos for scientific experiments amounts to mass killing of human lives, they argue.

On August 9, 2001, President George Bush decreed that no further human embryonic stem cell lines could be derived using federal funds, limiting federally funded research to cell lines already in existence.

On the other hand, many scientists believe it may be possible one day to create colonies of such cells that can be used for everything from growing replacement organs to creating treatments for diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease and other diseases.