Two powerhouses of biology research in California will join forces to tackle stem-cell research thanks to a gift of $12-million. Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley will create the Siebel Stem Cell Institute using a donation from the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation.

Mr. Siebel is a software entrepreneur who last year gave $100-million to his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The new gift dedicates $9-million to research at the two universities. It also devotes $1.5-million (to be matched, dollar for dollar, by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation) to create an endowed chair at Berkeley.

The gift will “allow us to attract the best international scholars to the Bay Area,” said Robert Tjian, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology who will lead Berkeley’s part of the project, in a news release.

It will also spur collaboration, he said. As part of the partnership, each university will also set aside lab space for visiting researchers from the other university. —Lila Guterman