Stem Cell Research Robust, Despite Veto

Although President Bush vetoed a bill on July 19 that would have expanded federal funding for research using human embryonic stem cells, work in the field continues.

The veto has no effect on stem cell research that doesn’t use human embryos, and it only limits federally funded research, not work funded by private companies, organizations or states.

Last year, for example, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine was established as a state agency mandated to provide $3 billion in funding for research using all types of stem cells.

Timothy Miller at the University of California-San Diego says he’s “quite optimistic” about stem cell use in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), although the stem cells he thinks are most promising aren’t those that form motor neurons, the cells most directly affected in this disease.

Stem cells that develop into astrocytes, which act as a support system for neurons, are good candidates for the “first wave of therapy,” he says, adding that they could either be used alone or engineered to produce nerve growth factors.