The ideologues remain at NIH. In spite of President Obama's March 9 announcement, the NIH, in its new proposed guidelines, is trying to deny the use of federal funds for an important research method, i.e. somatic cell nuclear transfer.
The somatic cell nuclear transfer technique involves removing the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with a nucleus from a different cell in order to create an embryonic stem cell line genetically identical to the donor nucleus. In the case of a donor who suffers from a condition like Parkinson’s disease, the SCNT process would yield an embryonic stem cell line that could be used to test specific therapies for that patient.