Legislation to Expand Funding for Stem Cell Research, Overall Federal Research Dollars to Remain Scarce

A 2001 ban on federally funded researchers conducting embryonic stem cell research will be lifted in the coming year, but overall funding for this and other scientific research will remain historically low, predicts a University of Alabama biologist.

“I think President-elect Obama will sign legislation to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in 2009,” says Dr. Kim Caldwell, an assistant professor of biological sciences at UA. “Now, will we have the federal dollars to increase research toward stem cells?” That seems much less likely, Caldwell says.

“In general, all funding for research is very lean right now, and established scientists are facing an average acceptance rate of only 8 percent of all grants submitted,” Caldwell says. Historically, the acceptance rate had ranged from 15 to 20 percent, she said.

One proposed component of a forthcoming national economic stimulus package is to boost funding for the National Institutes of Health, known as the NIH. “However, since the NIH is in the same pool of funding as education and health care, and the Obama administration has prioritized these areas, any increases in research funding are likely to be modest,” Caldwell says.

“An exciting technology we will hear more about in the coming year is iPS (induced pluripotent stem cells),” Caldwell says. “This is a method by which skin (or other adult) stem cells are cultured and reprogrammed using genetic engineering techniques into becoming more like embryonic stem cells. While iPS technology remains relatively untested, it circumvents the sticky ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cells.”

With embryonic stem cell research, cells are harvested from embryos that are five days old. Scientists believe these stem cells hold much potential in the treatment of disease because the cells, at this early stage, can be used to replace or replenish a variety of cell types damaged by disease or injury. The source of these embryos is often in vitro fertilization clinics, Caldwell said. Women seeking fertility assistance are sometimes given hormones causing them to produce many eggs. The eggs are extracted and fertilized by sperm in a laboratory. After the fertilized eggs divide and grow into embryos, scientists then select the best ones and implant them into the woman. The remaining embryos are frozen, and the patient is charged a storage fee. If patients stop paying the fee, the clinic disposes of the embryos, she said.

Many scientists want to obtain the embryos that are being thrown away at in vitro fertilization clinics for stem cell research.

Some “right-to-life” supporters argue that embryonic stem cell research shows a disregard for human life and could lead to the creation of embryos solely for the purpose of research. President George W. Bush announced in 2001 a policy that allowed federal funds to only be used on embryonic stem-cell lines already in existence.