US President-elect Barack Obama is already considering a lift on the current restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, according to a member of Obama's transition team.

Yesterday, John Podesta, one of the senior members of Obama's transition team and the previous chief of staff for Bill Clinton, told Fox News Sunday that the transition team is already considering lifting current limits on stem cell research, and how Obama can lift several of the other restrictions that President George W. Bush put in place during his administration.

In 2001, Bush restricted federal funding for human embryonic stem cells to cell lines that had already been created before August 9, 2001. There are currently 21 lines that qualify for federal funding. "I think across the board, on stem cell research, on a number of areas," Podesta said, "you see the Bush administration even today moving aggressively to do things that I think are probably not in the interest of the country."

Larry Soler, a board member of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, an umbrella group representing 100 organizations, told The New York Times: "I think everyone in the scientific community and the patient community is geared up and expecting this and excited to make this happen. It's been a long struggle."

Last week, in efforts to move quickly to boost the country's technology sector, Obama recruited several high-level tech-industry minds to join the transition team, including executives from industry investment firms, communications companies, and the Federal Communications Commission.