San Diego

A technology entrepreneur has withdrawn $60 million of a $150-million gift for a biomedical research facility at Stanford University in California, in protest at US policy on stem-cell research.

James Clark — a former Stanford professor who made his fortune founding Silicon Graphics and Netscape — made his announcement in The New York Times on 31 August. He said he would hold the gift to $90 million because of the Bush administration's decision to limit stem-cell research funding to a small number of cell lines already in existence (see Nature 412, 665; 2001).

Clark wrote that this plan was “beyond comprehension” and “driven by ignorance, conservative thinking and fear of the unknown”.

Clark had pledged to build a new centre for biomedical engineering and science — known as Bio-X — at Stanford. The centre was conceived to encourage collaboration between Stanford's schools for biology, engineering and computer science.

Construction of Bio-X began in the summer, and Stanford officials say they can still complete the building, but that Clark's action will delay funding for research projects at the centre. It is understood that Clark had originally planned to withdraw even more of his gift, halting construction entirely, but was dissuaded from doing so.

The withholding is the latest difficulty faced during the three years of planning for Bio-X. The building's size was scaled back to appease the surrounding community of Palo Alto. And in June, project director James Spudich said he would step aside this autumn. But after Clark's announcement, Spudich said he will remain as director for as long as is needed.