The embattled South Dakota billionaire Denny Sanford has pledged $150 million to the University of California at San Diego to expand its stem-cell research with new programs that will focus on space-based stem-cell science and to establish the Sanford Stem Cell Institute, the university announced Tuesday.
Sanford gave a $100 million gift to the university in 2013 to launch the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center, which conducts clinical trials and other research to speed up the development of new drugs and other therapies. In 2008, he donated $30 million to create the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine at the university.
Sanford’s latest gift will launch three space-related stem-cell programs, including one focused on research that will be conducted in a lab located aboard the International Space Station. Another will concentrate on research into in-depth space fitness and orbital medicine aimed at benefiting both astronauts in space and humans on earth, and a third new program will support the development of a business focused on regenerative medicine that would also conduct stem-cell research in space.
Research conducted in space is seen as the new frontier for stem-cell science because exposure to radiation and microgravity in low-Earth orbit can simulate and speed up aging in stem cells and their transformation into cancer cells. Scientists think such space-related research may lead to better treatments for cancers and other diseases.
Sanford’s gift will also establish the Sanford Stem Cell Institute Stellar Endowed Chair in Regenerative Medicine, the Sanford Stem Cell Institute Endowed Stellar Exploration Faculty Scholars and Fellows Fund, and the Sanford Stem Cell Institute Stellar Exploration Discovery Fund. It will also shore up the work of several existing stem-cell research efforts at the university.
With this latest gift, Sanford has given the university at least $380 million, including $100 million in 2019 to establish the T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, where researchers study the neurobiology of compassion, with the aim of increasing emotional support for doctors who feel burned out or suicidal about the nature of their work.
Sanford is a longtime donor to scientific research, health care, education, and other causes. He has given more than $3 billion to charity since 2005 and has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors 12 times over the past 17 years. His net worth is estimated at $2 billion.
His reputation has suffered since 2020 when state and federal authorities opened a series of investigations of his possible possession of child pornography on an electronic device. He has not been charged with a crime, and while the South Dakota investigation was closed in May, it is unclear if the federal investigation is ongoing.
