Sales of BioTime Common Shares by Subsidiaries (Details) - BioTime Common Stock [Member]		1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2014 USD ($) shares	Oct. 31, 2015 USD ($) Investor shares	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($) shares	Jun. 30, 2014 USD ($) Investor shares	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) shares
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares	9,431,398	1,600,000	2,607,401	5,000,000	175,000	5,545,160
Number of investors | Investor				2
Proceeds from sale of BioTime stock | $	$ 29,400,000	$ 5,100,000	$ 8,600,000	$ 12,500,000	$ 615,000	$ 17,400,000
Asterias Biotherapeutics [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares				5,000,000
Number of investors | Investor				2
Proceeds from sale of BioTime stock | $				$ 12,500,000
BioTime Subsidiaries [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares			175,000
Proceeds from sale of BioTime stock | $			$ 576,000
OncoCyte Corporation [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares		246,356
Number of investors | Investor		1
Proceeds from sale of BioTime stock | $		$ 771,094