As of today, scientists funded by US federal dollars can conduct research on 13 human embryonic stem cell lines that were previously off limits to them.
More lines will likely be approved on 4 December, when an advisory committee to National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins meets in Bethesda, Maryland, Collins said on a teleconference with reporters today.
Collins said that 96 new lines, in addition to the 13 now approved, have been submitted for NIH’s review under guidelines finalized by the agency this July. The guidelines were issued after President Barack Obama announced in March that he would lift his predecessor’s restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell lines created after 9 August 2001.
Eleven of the lines approved today were created by George Daley at Children’s Hospital Boston, and the other two were derived by Ali Brivanlou at Rockefeller University in New York City, Collins said. Both researchers made the lines with private money, since it is still illegal to derive human embryonic stem cell lines using federal money. All the approved lines were made from embryos donated by couples who were undergoing treatments at fertility clinics.
Stem cell researchers and their advocates welcomed the news.
“It is incredibly rewarding for patients, advocates, and the scientific community to see embryonic stem cell research finally allowed to move forward, without arbitrary limitations, in our hopes of better treatments and cures for so many devastating diseases,” said Amy Comstock Rick, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research in Washington, D.C.
Those who oppose research on human embryonic stem cells condemned the move.
“Ethically, we don’t think any taxpayer should have to fund research that relies on destroying early human life at any stage,” Richard M. Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told the Washington Post.
Collins said that the newly approved cell lines could be used in work funded by more than $20 million in NIH grants that were approved this year, but were on hold until the cell line review was complete. Some of these 31 grants were funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. More proposals submitted under the stimulus-funded Challenge Grant programme, which will be reviewed early next year, might also use the newly approved lines, Collins said.
In addition, Collins said, the NIH will continue to review lines submitted by researchers to check whether they comply with the ethical guidelines NIH laid out this summer. Lines that adhere very closely to the letter of the guidelines can be reviewed by NIH staff. A working group of Collins’ advisory committee separately reviews cell lines that investigators believe comply with the spirit of the NIH guidelines, but do not adhere to the strict rules the agency set on matters such as what must be spelled out in informed consent documents given to couples donating embryos to research.
“More lines are under review now, and we anticipate continuing to expand this list of responsibly derived lines eligible for NIH funding,” Collins said.