U. Neb. may limit stem cell research

LINCOLN, Neb., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A Nebraska university may become the first state institution to limit stem cell research more strictly than state and federal laws permit, officials said.

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents in Lincoln is scheduled to vote on the issue Friday, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Stem cell research advocates, including the school's president, fear such restrictions would all but preclude attracting regenerative medicine researchers or grant money, and could send a negative message about the general academic atmosphere at the university, the newspaper said.

Nationwide, approximately $88 million in federal funding supported human embryonic stem cell research in 2008. About $3.2 million in federal money supports such work at the university.

"(Passage of the proposed restrictions) would taint this university for a long time," said Dr. Harold M. Maurer, chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, which conducts stem cell research.