Fergie's Tech Blog

Top U.S. Government Scientist Quits

Kristen Philipkoski writes on Wired News:

Nearly five years after President Bush announced his restrictive embryonic stem-cell policy, the field is still feeling the fallout. The leader of the stem-cell unit at the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, announced today he will leave the NIH to join the private sector at a biotech company called Invitrogen in Carlsbad, California.

Rao says the president's executive order that embryonic stem-cell lines created after Aug. 9, 2001 are not eligible for federal funding, is the reason behind his decision to leave the government agency. But he's excited about embryonic stem-cell science, young scientists' hesitation to enter the field and the danger of hyping stem-cell research in this Q&A with Wired News.

posted by Fergie @ 4/10/2006 09:33:00 AM