Refers to the price per share of the estimated fair market value feature embedded in the debt instrument.

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Represents the maximum purchase price of shares from the rights offering if the pre-offer valuation amount of the rights offering is met.

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The term for which an individual is not to compete with the entity per an agreement.

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Refers to number of investors.

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Represents the owner's rate of interest on outstanding common shares.

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The cash outflow for cost incurred related to severance compensation.

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Represents a pre-offering valuation of a rights offering of shares of the the entity.

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Area of land held.

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Exercise price per share or per unit of warrants or rights outstanding.

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Number of securities into which the class of warrant or right may be converted. For example, but not limited to, 500,000 warrants may be converted into 1,000,000 shares.

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Total number of common shares of an entity that have been sold or granted to shareholders (includes common shares that were issued, repurchased and remain in the treasury). These shares represent capital invested by the firm's shareholders and owners, and may be all or only a portion of the number of shares authorized. Shares issued include shares outstanding and shares held in the treasury.

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Including the current and noncurrent portions, carrying amount of debt identified as being convertible into another form of financial instrument (typically the entity's common stock) as of the balance sheet date, which originally required full repayment more than twelve months after issuance or greater than the normal operating cycle of the company.

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Carrying value as of the balance sheet date of the portion of long-term debt due within one year or the operating cycle if longer identified as Convertible Notes Payable. Convertible Notes Payable is a written promise to pay a note which can be exchanged for a specified amount of another, related security, at the option of the issuer and the holder.

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The price per share of the conversion feature embedded in the debt instrument.

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Effective interest rate for the funds borrowed under the debt agreement considering interest compounding and original issue discount or premium.

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Contractual interest rate for funds borrowed, under the debt agreement.

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Period of time between issuance and maturity of debt instrument, in PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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The amount of debt discount that was originally recognized at the issuance of the instrument that has yet to be amortized.

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Amount of expense (income) related to adjustment to fair value of warrant liability.

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The equity interest of noncontrolling shareholders, partners or other equity holders in consolidated entity.

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No definition available.

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Cash payments to lessor's for use of assets under operating leases.

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The cash inflow from the issuance of a long-term debt instrument which can be exchanged for a specified amount of another security, typically the entity's common stock, at the option of the issuer or the holder.

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The cash inflow from the additional capital contribution to the entity.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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No definition available.

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The number of shares issued or sold by the subsidiary or equity method investee per stock transaction.

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No definition available.

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The aggregate amount of noncash, equity-based employee remuneration. This may include the value of stock or unit options, amortization of restricted stock or units, and adjustment for officers' compensation. As noncash, this element is an add back when calculating net cash generated by operating activities using the indirect method.

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Price of a single share of a number of saleable stocks of a company.

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No definition available.

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Number of shares of stock issued as of the balance sheet date, including shares that had been issued and were previously outstanding but which are now held in the treasury.

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Related Party Transactions (Details)			1 Months Ended							12 Months Ended
Related Party Transactions (Details)	May. 31, 2015 USD ($) Investor shares	Oct. 31, 2014 $ / shares shares	Nov. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Apr. 30, 2015 USD ($) Investor $ / shares	Feb. 28, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2014 USD ($) Investor shares	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) ft² shares	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Rent per month										$ 5,050
Area of office space (in square feet) \| ft²										900
Proceeds from issuance of common shares										$ 34,123,000	$ 44,150,000	$ 25,939,000
Principal and accumulated interest										$ 255,000	$ 471,000	0
Common shares, issued (in shares) \| shares										94,894,140	83,121,698
Non-cash stock-based compensation										$ 11,050,000	$ 4,455,000	$ 3,218,000
BioTime Common Stock [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Proceeds from issuance of common shares				$ 5,100,000	$ 8,600,000
Number of shares sold (in shares) \| shares		9,431,398		1,600,000	2,607,401				5,000,000	175,000	5,545,160
Stock price (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares		$ 3.12		$ 3.19	$ 3.29
Number of investors \| Investor									2
George Karfunkel [Member] \| BioTime Common Stock [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) \| shares									4,000,000
George Karfunkel [Member] \| Asterias Warrants [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of shares purchased (in shares) \| shares									4,000,000
Broadwood Partners LP [Member] \| BioTime Common Stock [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) \| shares									1,000,000
Number of shares purchased (in shares) \| shares					2,431,611
Former Executive [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Payments of severance compensation			$ 267,000
Non-cash stock-based compensation			1,800,000
Asterias Biotherapeutics [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of shares purchased (in shares) \| shares									5,000,000
Asterias Biotherapeutics [Member] \| BioTime Common Stock [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Proceeds from issuance of common shares									$ 12,500,000
Number of shares sold (in shares) \| shares									5,000,000
Number of investors \| Investor									2
Asterias Biotherapeutics [Member] \| Asterias Warrants [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Proceeds from issuance of common shares									$ 11,700,000
Number of shares purchased (in shares) \| shares									1,000,000
Asterias Biotherapeutics [Member] \| Series A Common Stock [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Proceeds from issuance of common shares								$ 5,500,000
Number of shares sold (in shares) \| shares								1,410,255
Stock price (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares								$ 3.90
Number of shares purchased (in shares) \| shares								1,025,640
Cell Cure Neurosciences, Ltd. [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of investors \| Investor							2
Stated interest rate							3.00%
Conversion price (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares							$ 20.00
Estimated fair market value (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares							$ 41.00
Principal and accumulated interest							$ 471,000
Accrued interest is payable period							3 years
Effective annual interest rate							23.00%
Carrying value of convertible notes										$ 324,000
Amount of convertible note										748,000
Unamortized debt discount										$ 424,000
Cell Cure Neurosciences, Ltd. [Member] \| Convertible Notes Payable [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Principal and accumulated interest			$ 66,000				$ 188,000
Unamortized debt discount							$ 659,000
OncoCyte [Member] \| Subscription Agreements [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of investors \| Investor	2
OncoCyte [Member] \| Second Agreement [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Non-compete Agreement Term						1 year
Fair value of warrants						$ 65,400
OncoCyte [Member] \| Second Agreement [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Investor passive ownership threshold						5.00%
OncoCyte [Member] \| Investors [Member] \| OncoCyte Common Stock [Member] \| Subscription Agreements [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Proceeds from issuance of common shares	$ 3,300,000
Common shares, issued (in shares) \| shares	3,000,000
OncoCyte [Member] \| Investors [Member] \| OncoCyte Common Stock [Member] \| Second Agreement [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Pre-offer valuation of rights						$ 40,000,000
Maximum purchase price of shares of pre-offer						$ 3,000,000
Number of shares that can be called by warrants (in shares) \| shares						3,000,000
Warrants exercise price (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares						$ 0.01
OncoCyte [Member] \| George Karfunkel [Member] \| OncoCyte Common Stock [Member] \| Subscription Agreements [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) \| shares	1,000,000
OncoCyte [Member] \| George Karfunkel [Member] \| OncoCyte Common Stock [Member] \| Subscription Agreements [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Ownership interest rate	5.00%