H9, H7 et al. Approved for Federally Funded Research

The Washington Post reports that the National Institutes of Health has approved 13 additional human embryonic stem cell lines as eligible for federal funding this week. On the list is H9 — the most widely used hESC line, developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison-affiliated WiCell Research Institute, which had previously been approved under the administration of former President Bush. "Many people who had been working on these lines, and concerned about whether they would be able to continue to work with these lines, will now be reassured that their research can now go forward," NIH Director Francis Collins said Tuesday, according to the Post article.