UPDATE :. NIH has issued an opinion stating that current research on previously approved stem cell lines can continue
BARCELONA, SPAIN science was the main topic of conversation here yesterday the international Society for (ISSCR of) the annual meeting of stem cells. But three other articles distracted researchers. First, the time it poured rain the afternoon, marring planned visits to this beautiful city. Second, a Spanish leg of the Tour de France has rolled into town late in the afternoon, and I have to admit I snuck on the poster sessions for 20 minutes to see the riders zoom by. But the third question that dominates conversations here was politics. While researchers of US stem cell celebrated the final guidelines of the NIH stem cell, questions remain, particularly if the National Institutes of Health will approve the existing lines in time for use with stimulus funds. And Europe, the political concerns Italian scientists here as several of them to sue the government to force it to include human embryonic stem its funding on stem cells.
Regarding the new NIH guidelines, which took effect on Tuesday, July 7, Kevin Eggan of Harvard University noted that he spent Tuesday night talking to Harvard lawyers to see if he needed to stop experiments in his laboratory. While he has worked with approved federal human ES lines, it notes that these lines could be considered illegal until they get examined by the working group on stem cells NIH plans to create. Indeed, if one looks closely all the requirements of informed consent, Eggan argues that all human ES existing lines will get exemptions NIH working group to study with federal funding. "There is no human ES lines that currently meet NIH guidelines," he said.
Eggan finally decided that his group does not need to stop the lab work, but says he remains much uncertainty about the new guidelines. For example, both Eggan and George Daley of the Boston Children's Hospital are wondering who is on the NIH working group and how fast it will review and hopefully approve, human ES existing lines. "We are concerned, there will be more delays," said Daley, who noted that the ISSCR officials placed a call late in the evening here to talk to officials of the NIH Guidelines.
The biggest question seems to be whether NIH can approve quickly they can be used with stem cell grants submitted to the NIH for the money allocated under the economic stimulus plan states STATES lines. (The deadline for the award of the NIH 09 stimulus grants is September 30th.) Eggan says its grants specified cell lines which he preferred, but also noted alternatives in case the guidelines n has not approved these lines. But he does not know if all the researchers went to the trouble. What if a grant is approved, but the human ES line involved has not made it through the working group? NIH officials sought to reassure ISSCR they solve this problem, but does not specify how. "Nobody knows. The fact is that it is uncertain," said Eggan. Still, Daley said that despite these continuing concerns, the general mood of the new guidelines is "grateful."
While American scientists stem cells can break free of politics, those in Italy can not say the same thing. human ES cell research is legal in Italy, but it does not mean that the government must finance. As Nature detailed last week, an Italian scientific agency recently launched a call for grant proposals on stem cells, but research on human ES cells specifically excluded, leading three Italian scientists continue government. Elena Cattaneo of the University of Milan is one of the researchers and a press conference, she complained about a "strong political interference" with science and said it violated the freedom protected by the Constitution of Italy for scientific research. She said she and her fellow plaintiffs expect the trial will be resolved quickly.
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