Many stem cell researchers have been left uncertain about their own future and the future of their field as they wait for a federal judge to decide whether to allow the NIH to fund human embryonic stem cell research, within and without of its walls.

A recent federal court injunction barred NIH labs from performing human embryonic stem cell research, and also stopped the NIH from funding grants that supported such research. The judge is currently considering an emergency stay which would temporarily allow the NIH to continue its research and to continue funding research.

The NIH has interpreted the court order to bar work with any human embryonic stem cell lines, but the plaintiffs in the case say they only meant to roll back the additional stem cell lines allowed by the Obama administration in 2009. Those plaintiffs, James L. Sherley and Theresa Deisher, said in a court filing Friday night that the Court’s ban does not apply to research approved under the Bush administration’s stem cell guidelines in 2001.

The judge, Royce C. Lamberth, is expected to rule early this week on the emergency stay, quite possibly as early as today.