The Democrat drubbing in this week’s US elections may affect the future of embryonic stem cell research. With a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, it will be much harder for supporters to ensure on-going funding for research projects. At the moment, all Federal funding has been suspended after August’s unexpected decision by Federal Court judge Royce C. Lamberth that the research violated the Dickey-Wicker Amendment. The lame duck Congress could overturn this – but it seems unlikely.

Bioethicist Art Caplan, of the University of Pennsylvania, said that the election was “bad news”. “To me, this is really a sign that stem cell funding from the federal government for the next two years is not reliable,” he told msnbc.com. “Given state deficits, people are going to move on to other areas of stem cell research not involving embryonic cells or cloning."

In Wisconsin, where human embryonic stem cells were first isolated in 1998, voters elected Republican Scott Walker, as governor. He is unlikely to support ESC research with any enthusiasm. New Wisconsin senator, Ron Johnson, a Tea Party Republican, opposes ESC research.

On the other hand, Colorado voters rejected a "personhood" amendment to the state constitution for the second time. The amendment would have defined a person as "every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being". It would have effectively put a halt to ESC research in the state.

One little-noticed feature of the election is that the new governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin, appears to be a supporter of assisted suicide. According to the euthanasia group, Compassion & Choices, during the campaign Shumlin recounted the story of a terminally ill woman who urged him to support end-of-life choice. “I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams why government would get in between that woman… and her doctor,” Shumlin said. Will Vermont be first East Coast state to legalise assisted suicide, after Oregon and Washington?