Organization and Basis of Presentation (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Apr. 29, 2009	Dec. 31, 2012 ReCyte Therapeutics, Inc. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 OncoCyte Corporation [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 OncoCyte Corporation [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 OrthoCyte Corporation [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 OrthoCyte Corporation [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 ES Cell International Pte., Ltd. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 BioTime Asia, Limited [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 BioTime Asia, Limited [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Cell Cure Neurosciences, Ltd. [Member]		Dec. 31, 2011 Cell Cure Neurosciences, Ltd. [Member]	Jan. 29, 2013 Cell Cure Neurosciences, Ltd. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 LifeMap Sciences, Inc. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 LifeMap Sciences, Ltd. [Member]		Apr. 10, 2013 BioTime Acquisition Corporation [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 BioTime Acquisition Corporation [Member]
Noncontrolling Interest [Line Items]
Amount of grant award	$ 392,664	$ 392,664			$ 4,721,706
Grants Recognized		1,047,107
Number of quarterly payments received			4
Cash received from grant	261,777	392,665	1,570,663
Grants revenue		$ 2,222,458	$ 2,767,181	$ 2,336,325			$ 44,544		$ 50,389			$ 47,507	$ 27,917	$ 1,109,699		$ 1,073,668		$ 18,145
BioTime Ownership (in hundredths)						95.20%	75.30%	75.30%		100.00%	100.00%	81.00%		53.60%	[1]		62.60%	73.20%	0.00%	[2]	71.60%	96.70%	[3]

[1] In January 2013 Cell Cure Neurosciences issued additional ordinary shares to BioTime in exchange for BioTime common shares which increased BioTime's ownership, directly and through ESI, to approximately 62.6%. See Note 23.

[2] LifeMap Sciences, Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LifeMap Sciences, Inc.

[3] BioTime expects that its percentage ownership will be reduced to approximately 71.6% after BAC issues common stock to BioTime and Geron Corporation pursuant to an Asset Contribution Agreement and sells common stock and warrants to a private investor for cash in a related transaction.