SUBJECT:	UCSD Guidelines for Use of Federal Funds Following
	Presidential Executive Order

President Obama's Executive Order (EO) of March 9, 2009 removes significant limitations to the federal funding of research involving the use of human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESC). However, while the guidelines for federal funding of hESC research will change, it may take as long as 120 days from March 9, 2009 until they are finalized. Therefore, we recommend that stem cell researchers temporarily continue the practices that are in place and only use existing federal funding for research with hESC lines listed on the NIH Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Registry. We do not yet know what these new guidelines will specify and which cell lines will then be eligible for use with federal funds.

Investigators submitting new grants are certainly free to specify currently unapproved cell lines in their applications, but should remember that there is no certainty yet about which lines will have been generated in accordance with the new NIH guidelines.

The NIH Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Registry and the text of the EO can be found at http://stemcells.nih.gov/policy/

Arthur B. Ellis Vice Chancellor - Research Lawrence S.B. Goldstein Director UCSD Stem Cell Program