The National Institutes of Health started accepting applications today to evaluate which human embryonic stem cells will be eligible for federal dollars.

A panel of nine scientists, lawyers and ethicists — led by Jeffrey Botkin of the University of Utah — will scrutinize submissions to ensure that they meet the new requirements for informed consent from embryo donors. The working group’s “expertise and sound judgment will help NIH move forward in this important effort,” NIH director Francis Collins, who will have the final say on the eligibility of particular lines, said in a statement.

The panel will review cell lines made before the guidelines went into effect on 7 July. Fundable lines must be derived from leftover embryos that were created solely for assisted reproduction and donated voluntarily with no financial incentives.

“We’re open for business in a new era,” Lana Skirboll, director of policy at NIH, told Nature. The working group has not yet appraised any cell lines — including the 21 lines approved under former President George W. Bush, which will need to be reassessed — and will start considering particular cells after scientists submit their petitions on the NIH website. “The speed at which this moves is really in the hands of the scientific community at this point,” she said.

Having a mechanism in place to expand the number of eligible cell lines “is what we’ve been working toward for a very long time,” said M. William Lensch, a stem cell researcher at Children’s Hospital Boston and the Harvard Medical School, who expects to start submitting requests “sooner rather than later.”

Image: James Thomson, University of Wisconsin-Madison