Businessman and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford has committed $100 million to the creation of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at the University of California, San Diego.

The Sanford Center will accelerate the development of drugs and cell therapies inspired by and derived from current human stem cell research, to establish, promote and disseminate clinical trials and patient therapies.

“This gift and the creation of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center will further UC San Diego's leadership in stem cell science and therapeutics, and advance our region's reputation as an international, collaborative hub for stem cell research," said Pradeep K. Khosla, chancellor of UC San Diego. “This Center will support the goals and vision of our strategic planning process by translating discoveries into therapies that will improve and save lives."

The Sanford Center will integrate operations at four locations: the UC San Diego Jacobs Medical Center and a nearby proposed clinical space, both scheduled to open in 2016; the UC San Diego Center for Advanced Laboratory Medicine (CALM); and the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM). It will provide essential physical and human resources needed to leverage stem cell research currently being conducted at the Sanford Consortium—an innovative “collaboratory” of San Diego scientists from UC San Diego, the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the Scripps Research Institute and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology—and other institutions on and around the Torrey Pines mesa, such as the J. Craig Venter Institute.

“Every day, scientists learn more about the regenerative powers of stem cells, which tantalize with their potential to treat, cure, even prevent myriad afflictions, including cancer, Lou Gehrig’s disease and spinal cord injury. I see it in the amazing collaborative advances by researchers and doctors in the Consortium and across the La Jolla mesa,” said Sanford. “I believe we’re on the cusp of turning years of hard-earned knowledge into actual treatments for real people in need. I want this gift to push that reality faster and farther.”