Any cell lines produced at Harvard will have to be used in privately funded research. According to Melton, significant sources of private funding do exist for stem cell work.

“There are several possible sources of funding including the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and other similar groups,” Melton wrote in an e-mail message.

However, the government does provide a major source of funding for the University’s biomedical research. Last year, for example, Harvard Medical School received over $122 million from the government for research and training, which is over three-quarters of the total funding received for those areas.

The National Institutes of Health, which controls most government research grants, has an annual budget of over $20 billion.

Many scientists have argued that the lack of federal funds will stall work on the cells. There are 64 existing lines that can be used with federal funding, but some scientists fear they will not be enough and some of those lines may not be made available to researchers for months.

According to Jane Corlette, Harvard’s acting vice president of government, community and public affairs, the University plans to offer Harvard’s newly created cells lines to researchers with less restrictive terms than many current providers of cells.

“Our idea would be that we want to make them available with as few strings attached as possible,” she said. “We might say that any research done would have to have institutional review board approval.”