Last week's surprising court ruling in favor of a temporary injunction that prohibits new federal funding of embryonic stem cell research work has some in the field scrambling to come up with some stopgap solutions. The New York Stem Cell Foundation, for example, is offering lab space to help scientists deal with the sudden funding halt. And the foundation is also trying to raise emergency donations from the private sector to help avoid sudden layoffs.
"We can't take the place of the NIH, but we can launch a new campaign for bridge financing for a few million dollars so a lab doesn't have to fire a postdoc," Executive Director Susan Solomon tells Crain's Health Pulse. If enough money comes in, she adds, the foundation says it can save a number of junior research positions.
Out on the West Coast, the San Jose Mercury News laments the ruling, noting that Asian countries are likely to use the latest ESC debacle to steal a march on the U.S. The University of Pennsylvania's Jonathan Moreno notes that with the welcome mat out in Asia, a number of U.S. companies and scientists may just migrate to a region where their work will be more warmly embraced.
- here's the Crain's New York story
- check out the San Jose Mercury News op-ed