A nonprofit institute recently established at the University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI) plans to widely distribute human embryonic stem cells to qualified researchers in academia and industry. The WiCell Research Institute is a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), a private corporation that manages the university's intellectual property and holds the patents that govern the technology and use of the cells: “Immortal” embryonic stem cell lines were first successfully created by biologist James Thomson's UW lab in November 1998—an announcement that set off a flurry of debate over whether government money should support research involving cells from human embryos (Nat. Biotechnol., 17, 11). As it stands, researchers cannot use federal funds for such research until guidelines from the US National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD) are in place. Thomson's human embryo research was funded by Geron (Menlo Park, CA), and according to Carl Gulbrandsen, WARF's managing director, other groups will be able to use the cells only for research, not commercial, purposes. Any group that receives the cells will be required to follow strict guidelines prohibiting intermixing of other species with the human cells or creation of embryos from the cells. Academic researchers will receive the cells for a one-time payment of $5000, but Gulbrandsen says charge for industry will be “much higher.”