Appeals Court Lifts Ban on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Yesterday the US Court of Appeals of DC granted an emergency motion of stay against Judge Royce Lamberth's August 23 order, which banned research on human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Wrote the appeals court,

The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the [DoJ's] emergency motion for stay and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.

The appeals court ordered the appellees (Sherley et al) to file a response to the emergency motion by September 14 and allowed the appellants (Sebelius et al) to file a reply on September 20.

On the basis of the news, NIH officials signaled a tentative OK to restart intramural hESC work and to fast-track pending extramural grants for hESC research.

Background on this story can be found here, here, and here; but in the interest of sheer thoroughness, I recommend coverage of this story by The Great Beyond:

Appeals court temporarily lifts stem cell injunction - September 09, 2010

NIH tells researchers to recommence stem cell work - September 09, 2010

Image of undifferentiated hESCs from http://www.nih.gov/catalyst/2007/07.01.01/page1.html.