Summary: Following the recent decision by President Bush on the use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells (ESC), University of Nebraska President L. Dennis Smith and the Board of Regents reviewed and accepted the recommendations of the Nebraska Bioethics Committee regarding Human Stem Cell Research. The Committee's recommendations have been implemented as UNMC policy.
Procedure: Based on the Nebraska Bioethics Committee's recommendations, ESC policy allows the use of Human ESC under these conditions:
The investigator must follow appropriate review criteria outlined within the federal guidelines.
The investigator must be using ESC that are listed in the NIH Registry.
In addition to IRB review, the proposed research must be reviewed by an ad hoc "Scientific Review Committee (ESC-SRC)" set up by the IRB chairperson. (Note: This committee is NOT the same as the Cancer Center SRC.)
The IRB will consider the ESC-SRC recommendations when reviewing the proposed research.
Before an application for funding can be submitted to an external agency, the ad hoc ESC-SRC must have completed its review and the IRB must have reviewed and approved the use of ESC.