A proposed resolution to restrict human embryonic stem cell research at the University of Nebraska has failed. The University’s Board of Regents today split their votes 4-4, defeating a measure that would have limited research to embryonic stem cell lines approved under former President George W. Bush. The resolution needed a majority of five votes to pass.

“That probably settles the question for the time being,” Thomas Rosenquist, vice chancellor for research at the University of Nebraska Medical School in Omaha, told Nature. “It’s permission to go ahead and take part in 21st-century research with embryonic stem cells.”

Nebraska law prohibits the destruction of embryos for research. But the state does allow scientists to follow federal standards in embryonic stem cell research. Earlier this year, President Barack Obama removed government funding restrictions on new stem-cell lines derived from embryos left over from fertility treatment, and an advisory panel is currently mulling over which of hundreds of potential new cell lines to approve.

The governing board’s decision “is a big relief”, says Angie Rizzino, a stem cell biologist at the University of Nebraska Medical School. “But I fear that they’ll be back in a year or two trying to put a block on embryonic stem cell research again.”