NU Board of Regent Jim McClurg of Lincoln, left, takes notes during public testimony Friday, Nov.... 
(AP)Measure to Change U. of Neb. Stem-Cell Rule Fails
University of Nebraska regents vote not to further restrict embryonic stem-cell research rules
The University of Nebraska's governing board on Friday voted not to place tighter restrictions on embryonic stem cell research than those outlined under federal guidelines, which were expanded after President Barack Obama took office.
The Board of Regents, which is elected, voted 4-4 on a proposition to limit the stem cell research at the university to types allowed under President George W. Bush. The board needed a majority of its eight members to approve the measure, and many backers thought they had the necessary votes.
But board member Jim McClurg, who was endorsed for his post by an anti-abortion group that opposes embryonic stem cell research, Nebraska Right to Life, voted against the resolution.
McClurg said he would have voted differently three years ago.
"I was against embryonic stem cell research then — on the record," said McClurg.
"I've received so much information since then. It's been quite a three-year crash course in embryonic stem cell research," he said.
Last year, about $88 million in federal funding went to embryonic stem cell research, according to the National Institutes of Health. The University of Nebraska saw none of that funding because of the tight federal guidelines, said Tom Rosenquist, vice chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Now that the guidelines have been relaxed to allow funding for new stem cell lines, Rosenquist said, about six university researchers plan to apply for as much as $7 million over the next several years.
Friday's vote came 20 months after a state law was enacted prohibiting the use of state resources for creating or destroying embryos for research. That law had been a compromise between abortion opponents and University of Nebraska researchers in which abortion foes agreed not to push for further legislation if certain conditions were met.
Some supporters of the researchers have said that agreement extends to the regents. But abortion opponents have said the compromise was never meant to keep them from lobbying the regents for policy changes.
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