A human embryonic stem (hES) cell colony on a mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) feeder layer. Id711, Wikimedia Commons

A U.S. court of appeals has upheld the ruling of a lower court to toss out a 2009 lawsuit against the U.S. government for funding stem cell research, as reported on GlobalPost.com.

The lawsuit was brought to the courts by two researchers, Theresa Deisher of Seattle's AVM Biotechnology and Dr. James Sherley of the Boston Biomedical Research Institute. Though the two utilize stem cells in their own research, they are against using embyonic stem cells.

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said he was pleased with the court of appeals' decision in a statement released Aug. 24:

"Today’s ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals is important news for patients. President Obama is committed to supporting responsible stem cell research and today’s ruling was another step in the right direction," Dr. Collins said. "NIH will continue to move forward, conducting and funding research in this very promising area of science. The ruling affirms our commitment to the patients afflicted by diseases that may one day be treatable using the results of this research."