Stem Cells

The House plunged back into the emotional debate over embryonic stem cells Thursday, voting to expand federal funding for the controversial research. The bill, part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 100-hour agenda, has broad support in both chambers, but is expected to face opposition from President Bush, who imposed strict limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in 2001, and in 2006 used his veto power for the only time to reject an identical bill.

California's voter-approved stem cell research institute cleared a roadblock Monday when a University of Wisconsin alumni group said it would not seek to collect licensing fees on discoveries made with institute grants. Proposition 71, passed in 2004, created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and all but promised taxpayers royalties in return for approving $3 billion in bonds for research. A move to collect fees out of any royalties would likely have led to a court battle.

Say you're a woman who wants to have fertility treatment but can't afford the $6,000 cost. Would you be interested in getting it for half-price by agreeing to donate half the eggs you produce for stem cell research? British women may get a crack at that deal in a few months, under a plan pursued by Dr. Alison Murdoch of Newcastle University.

New international guidelines on human embryonic stem cell research call for close scrutiny of scientists and clear consent from people donating cells, but do not settle the issue of paying women who donate eggs. The International Society for Stem Cell Research, the principal scientific group for stem cell scientists, said its 15 pages of guidelines released Thursday were meant to establish ground rules for a field stung by a fraud scandal and opposition on moral grounds.

When Anthony Portantino and his wife had their daughter Bella five years ago, they wanted to donate blood from the umbilical cord. But their hospital was not one of the two in California that routinely collect cord blood for use in treatment of diseases such as leukemia. "I had to do all the work," said Portantino. "I had to get the kit, I had to call the hospital. I had to see if the doctor was willing to harvest it....

Public money began flowing to embryonic stem cell research Friday for the first time since Californians voted to make their state a haven for a scientific endeavor that the Bush administration refused to fund on moral grounds. Drawing on a state loan, the board created to oversee the ambitious enterprise awarded 72 grants to 20 institutions statewide for a total of about $45 million.

KEVIN MANNIX is a salesman and entrepreneur in the healthcare industry, a husband, father of two and the son of a man who died of a heart attack at 52. In matters of business and of health, he lives by the same principles: Do your research, hedge your bets, avoid regret and -- every once in a while -- take a leap of faith. Mannix has acted to curb the medical risks he may have inherited from his father. He eats carefully, doesn't smoke and is a regular at his gym.

California's voter-created stem cell institute awarded 29 research grants worth almost $76 million to researchers at academic and nonprofit research centers Friday. The grants, the second round announced this year, bring the amount the state is spending on the nascent science to about $158 million. UC San Francisco received the most grants -- seven -- for a total of $17.4 million.

In a high-profile dissent from Bush administration policy, the nation's top medical research official told senators Monday that he backs an end to restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. "From my standpoint, it is clear today that American science will be better-served, and the nation will be better-served, if we let our scientists have access to more stem cell lines," Dr. Elias A.

California's voter-created stem cell institute approved a $2.6-million grant earlier this month to a Los Angeles-based research center whose founding president, a South Korean fertility expert, is embroiled in an international dispute over authorship of a medical journal article.