Voters in California approved $8.4 billion in funding for immunology research last week. The measure, called Proposition 38, passed after officials counted ballots from the mid-term elections. This represents the largest amount of public funding authorized by ballot for science in US history, according to the report.
The state will finance the research through the sale of government bonds. This approach is unusual for science funding, as bonds typically pay for infrastructure projects like road construction and require the state to repay debt with interest.
The research aims to develop treatments that use or re-engineer the immune system to combat diseases including cancer and Alzheimer's disease.