2009 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2009. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.

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Will President Obama's decision on Stem Cell Research alter in any way, the research at NIH? if so, how?
     Jonathan Gitlin, Ph.D.: I keep abreast of developments in the field of genomics and genetics, and the policy implications of those developments. I conduct analyses on programs undertaken by NHGRI and prepare reports that are used by the institute, the Department of Health and Human Services, and members of Congress for determining future research priorities and for funding. Yes. Thanks to President Obama's executive order, the NIH will be able to fund research on new human embryonic stem cell lines, provided that they conform to the new guidelines that the President instructed us to prepare. Those guidelines have been released for the public to have their say at the following link: http://nihoerextra.nih.gov/stem_cells/add.htm Some things have not changed; the NIH is still prohibited by law from creating new human embryonic stem cell lines, and only cell lines created from embryos that came from reproductive IVF (by a third party) are allowed to be used.
Northwestern High School in MD (11th grade student)

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