AN IMPORTANT RESEARCHER in the field of stem cells, Dr. Mahendra S. Rao headed the stem cell group at the National Institute of Aging before resigning from that position in 2006 to join a private company, the Invitrogen Corporation. In a public statement made after his resignation, Rao said that the U.S. ban on federal funding of new embryonic stem cell lines posed, for him and other researchers, a major barrier to making progress. Now the vice president of research at Invitrogen, Rao continues his research in the private sector as leader of the newly formed stem cell and regenerative medicine business. Interviewed after his move from the government sector to private industry, Rao said that he had “strong hopes” for policy change within government, ...