Posted on behalf of Erika Check Hayden

Tussles over the structure of the world’s largest funder of embryonic stem cell research continue, with a bipartisan commission saying it will scrutinize the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

On Friday, a California state oversight board, the Little Hoover Commission, said it will “explore the transparency and accountability of [CIRM’s] existing governance structure.” The commission told blogger David Jensen that it will also look at other issues, “including a discussion on ways to insure the most effective use of bond money”. The move had been requested by a watchdog group and by state legislators, who have largely remained impotent to do anything to influence the institute’s operations, thanks to masterful drafting of the ballot measure that created CIRM.

Scientists may be wondering whether this just another political move to slow embryonic stem cell research. But since CIRM’s creation, there have been concerns about the structure and operation of the agency that have nothing to do with politics, ranging from the unwieldy nature of agency’s 29-member board to the potential conflict created by the fact that many of the institutes receiving money from the agency also sit on that board (Nature).

Bob Klein, chair of the CIRM board, has headed off any major changes to the agency’s structure, although there have been minor tweaks, such as a grant review appeals process approved by the board on 25 September (CIRM, San Diego Union-Tribune). The Little Hoover Commission’s investigation into CIRM will be the most thorough and far-reaching yet, and the commission has a lot of clout. But some reforms would still have to go through the California legislature – a famously dysfunctional body. A public hearing in November should give a first taste of the inquiry’s intended scope and tone.