The few that are, including Melton, have had to make do with private funding. Melton said sources of his funding include the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International.

“The scope of what can be done using private funding is so much smaller than what it would be with federal funding,” Corlette said.

In addition to its position in support of federal funding, Harvard also lobbied Congress on an anti-cloning bill that would have repercussions for stem cell research.

Harvard was one of the only universities to sign a letter urging the House not to ban a procedure known as somatic cell nuclear transfer which scientists say is the ideal method for harvesting stem cell products. The procedure helps ensure that implanted cells are accepted by the recipient’s immune system.

The House prohibition was passed last week on mainly partisan lines. Corlette said that future efforts would be focused on making the most of the federal funding allowed under Bush’s rules, and opposing Senate measures that would ban the somatic cell nuclear transfer procedure.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.