President Obama has promised Democrats that the ban on the federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research will be lifted. See this blog post from the Washington Post. The first paragraph of this Washington Times article describes the context of one such promise, and then abandons further policy discussion to describe presidential air travel. Meanwhile, this more analytic piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer describes why Obama seems to prefer legislative action to allow embryonic stem cell research, and why scientists seem to prefer it too, as it would mean that subsequent presidents couldn’t re-impose the ban by fiat. More than a swift lifting of the funding ban, Obama seems to value implementing the economic stimulus package and coordinating with Congress.

Also on the ban-lifting topic,The Journal of New England Technology has a local round-up of stem cell scientists excited about the funding ban’s banishment, noting that it’s not just academic grants that will soon be eligible for funding, but small business grants as well. The well-written article surveys several scientists in both academia and industry.

While it’s true that the federal government awards millions and millions of dollars for biomedical research and that many embryonic stem cell researchers are hoping to apply for it, the article does not point out that these grants are incredibly competitive, so lifting the ban may mean a trickle rather than a flood of funds. (I wonder if it will also mean that stem cells can get more integrated into other sciences. Really, if someone wants to treat spinal cord injury, shouldn’t non-stem cell techniques to prevent scarring get an airing alongside the regenerative techniques with the sexier terms? Can these methods be compared or even combined into the same grant?)

Finally, I clicked on an article entitled “Putting a face on the stem cell argument” fully expecting to read a profile of a scientist and instead found a young man in a wheelchair. That’s a powerful vision, but so too is a story that Harvard scientist Ken Chien told me, that it took decades, many deaths, and even more false starts for heart transplants to become established medical practice. Lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research will not yield instant results. To borrow from Winston Churchill, we’re not yet at the end of the beginning.

Just after I collected together these news articles, I found this lovely essay by Bill Hoffman, the author of The Stem Cell Dilemna, which argues that Obama recognizes curiousity as a virtue, and that this attitude can succor science. (Though individual posts need not represent it’s sponsors’ views, Hoffman’s essay is posted on a blog sponsored by the Center for American Progres, whose founder led Obama’s transition team.)