A shortfall of helium-3, the lighter isotope of the most inert element, threatens several research fields, and the Department of Energy, the major supplier, is releasing the gas, which is used in neutron detectors that help prevent the smuggling of plutonium and other radioactive materials into the country, only to researchers with U.S. funding.

Five years after it launched, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) last week awarded its first disease-oriented grants—$230 million to 14 teams—intended to speed stem cell therapies to patients.