Prominent Stem Cell Scientist to join MCDB

Pete Coffey, an internationally prominent researcher from Britain who works on stem cell biology and the prevention of blindness, will direct UCSB's Center for the Study of Macular Degeneration, and will also work with the university's Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering. Both centers are part of UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine provided a grant to recruit Coffey, who is currently the director of the London Project to Cure Blindness at the University College of London. "Pete Coffey is not only a boon to UCSB, but to the entire state of California," said Kenneth S. Kosik, co-director of UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute.