US President Barack Obama will on Monday sign an executive order reversing Bush administration restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research, a senior administration official says.
The official would not divulge the exact wording of the order, but confirmed, that it would be in line with Obama's campaign vow to restore funding to embryonic stem-cell research.
The president will sign the document in a White House ceremony on Monday morning, the official said.
Scientists who have long campaigned for the Bush policy to be overturned, but Mr Obama's move is likely to be condemned by conservative right-to-life groups.
Mr Bush barred federal funding from supporting work on new lines of stem cells derived from human embryos in 2001, allowing research only on a small number of embryonic stem cell lines which existed at that time.
He also several times vetoed legislation passed by Congress backing the research, which advocates say could help find a cure to diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes and Parkinson's.
Mr Bush argued that using human embryos for scientific research, which often involves their destruction, crossed a moral barrier and urged scientists to consider other alternatives.
Embryonic stem cells are primitive cells from early-stage embryos capable of developing into almost every tissue of the body.
