A Medical Device Daily

UnitedHealth Group (Minnetonka, Minnesota) and PacifiCare have awarded more than $6.2 million in grants to benefit health care consumers and improve the delivery of healthcare services in the Golden State. The grants, ranging from $96,000 to $2 million, have been awarded to 13 California nonprofits dedicated to improving health care services through enhanced health care technology opportunities, supporting clinical education and driving preventive-health initiatives.

The grants reported are part of a four-year, $25 million commitment to California by UnitedHealth Group and PacifiCare. The grants and their identified uses are well-aligned with UnitedHealth Group/PacifiCare's historic and ongoing commitment to improve the health care delivery system statewide.

In other grants news:

• Asuragen, (Austin, Texas) reported that it has received more than $3.8 million in new grant funding for 2009 from the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funded initiatives of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further its development of molecular diagnostics for oncology and genetic disease.

• NeoStem (New York) reported that it has been awarded a grant of $108,746 for the repair of bone defects by human stem cells under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (RRA) of 2009 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease (NIAMS; Bethesda, Maryland) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).This award will fund studies to investigate the potential of very small embryonic-like stem cells to regenerate bone in an animal model. These very small embryonic-like stem cells are isolated from adults' own peripheral blood using NeoStem's proprietary isolation methods.

Under the RRA, the NIH has established a new program entitled Research and Research Infrastructure "Grand Opportunities," also known as the "GO" grants program.

This new program is designed to support large-scale research projects that accelerate critical breakthroughs, early and applied research on cutting-edge technologies, and new approaches to improve the synergy and interactions among multi and interdisciplinary research teams.