U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth pulls the plug, citing a ban on federal funds being used to destroy embryos.

• Lamberth’s ruling effectively ends Obama’s 2009 executive order to expand funding for embryonic stem cell research. The U.S. Justice Department plans to challenge the ruling.
• Currently funded research projects will be allowed to continue until their grant money runs out – usually in the space of about a year.
• Researchers are devastated. They fear the end of promising human developmental studies in the U.S., they fear a “brain drain” of scientists who relocate to other countries to continue their research, and they fear a new dependance on private funding.

Facts & Figures

165 research grants for stem cell research (worth about $149 million) will be frozen by the end of September.

Best Quote

“Stem cell research offers true potential for scientific discovery, and hope for families. This decision has just poured sand into that engine of discovery.” – Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health

Tags: federal funding, grants, Health, stem cell research