With President-elect Barack Obama poised to lift the ban on federal funding of research on new embryonic stem-cell lines, UW-Madison and Dane County could strengthen their position as a leader in the pioneering research, officials say.

They warn, however, it will take new federal dollars in addition to a change in policy to have a strong impact here.

"If that occurs, there will be more research grants, more folks involved in the research, and, as the research goes on, more start up companies," Timothy Kamp, a UW-Madison medical professor and co-director of the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center, said of lifting the ban accompanied by more federal funding. "There's no doubt it will be enthusiastically received by investigators here if that should happen."

Top advisers to Obama have said recently that one of the Illinois senator's first acts as president will be to reverse the stem-cell research ban put into effect by President George W. Bush in August 2001.

The ban bars federal funding from being used for research on embryonic stem cells created after that date, but federal dollars are allowed to pay for research on the 21 stem-cell lines in existence at that point.

Last week, Obama's transition team named a prominent UW-Madison researcher to a panel reviewing federal health policy, including funding embryonic stem-cell research.

R. Alta Charo, a bioethicist and law professor who studies issues surrounding embryonic and other stem-cell research, is one of 39 people on the Health and Human Services team. Charo, who donated $4,450 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, said via e-mail she could not comment on the appointment.

Charo was a member of the U.S. National Bioethics Advisory Commission between 1996 and 2001 and served on the 1993-94 National Institutes of Health Human Embryo Research Panel, which called for federal funding of research on embryos.

UW-Madison has a major stake in embryonic stem-cell research, officials say.

University professor James Thomson grew the first embryonic stem cells and remains a leading international figure in the field. Between 35 and 40 research groups involving more than 100 scientists currently study embryonic stem cells on campus. The university and WiCell, a non-profit research institute that supports the study of stem cells, have received more than $38 million in federal funding for investigations involving embryonic stem cells.

WiCell maintains the National Stem Cell Bank, a federally funded repository for embryonic stem-cell lines. And the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation holds about a dozen patents based on UW-Madison stem-cell research and has applied for dozens more.

In addition, a 2007 study found the annual economic impact of stem-cell research in the state was $44.5 million, according to Andy Cohn of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Proponents say research on embryonic stem cells could eventually lead to breakthroughs in treating Alzheimer's, heart disease and other ailments. Opponents say using embryonic stem cells in research destroys human life.

"It is such baloney when they could be doing good research," Susan Armacost, legislative director of Wisconsin Right to Life, said of scientists conducting studies on embryonic stem cells. "It's pathetic. It's absolutely pathetic. They're bringing our state down a wrong road."

Cohn said lifting Bush's ban on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research could be good for the National Stem Cell Bank, which maintains 18 of the 21 embryonic stem-cell lines and is slated to obtain two others under contract with the NIH.

The bank grows and distributes the embryonic stem cells approved for federal funding, and provides technical assistance to researchers. If federal money is used for research on additional stem-cell lines, the NIH could ask the stem-cell bank to serve as the repository for them, Cohn said.