Word: stemness
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...Funding Ban Lifted on Stem-Cell Research It was eight years in coming - which felt like eons to some researchers - but on March 9, President Obama rescinded his predecessor's Executive Order prohibiting the use of federal money to fund research on stem cells. A congressional law still prevents scientists from using government funds to create new lines of embryonic stem cells, which can develop into any of the body's tissues, but at least scientists are now free to use that money to study the hundreds of stem-cell lines already in existence. Before embarking on such research, however...
...cells meet all of the requirements exactly. This review, says Collins, boils down to NIH staff agreeing that all the necessary criteria for inclusion have been met. Approval of some lines may be less straightforward if certain requirements have not been met to the letter. For instance, since stem-cell lines are drawn from unused embryos donated to research by couples undergoing the IVF procedure, researchers must offer proof that each couple was fully informed of all their options for discarding excess embryos. If the proper documentation doesn't exist, an NIH working group would have to determine whether...
Some experts worry that the stringent vetting and documentation processes may place an undue burden on labs that have painstakingly created human-embryonic-stem-cell lines using their own hard-earned private funds. (Researchers are still prohibited from using federal money to create new stem-cell lines because of a congressional ban on harming or destroying embryos.) According to some estimates, as many as 780 such lines may exist worldwide, but not all labs may be willing to subject themselves to the scrutiny and administrative hassle of registering their lines with the NIH. Even among the handful of stem-cell...
...many cases, researchers studying existing stem-cell lines do so free of any monetary strings, which means they are also entitled to any potential commercial windfall that may come from the application of the cells to a treatment or therapy. "Any discoveries they make using the lines will be theirs," says Amy Wilkerson, associate vice president for research support at Rockefeller University, who oversaw the submission of the university's lines...
...despite the relatively slow start for American stem-cell research, Rockefeller's Brivanlou is hopeful that the NIH approvals mark the beginning of a new era in our understanding of human development. "I consider it a shame that at the beginning of the 21st century, we know more about how development works in the worm, the fruit fly and the mouse than we know about our own development. And it's not because of scientific limitations or technological limitations," he says. "It would be nice if someday people are allowed to ask basic questions simply about where we come from...