U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to issue an executive order soon on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research said White House adviser David Axelrod on Sunday.

"We're going to be doing something on that soon, I think. The president is considering that right now," Obama adviser David Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday."

This would lift an eight-year ban imposed by his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who limited federal money for research on embryonic stem cell to those stem cells lines that came into being before the cut off date of Aug 9, 2001.

Stem cell research with cell lines from embryos destroyed after the cut off date received no federal funding however federal rules do not restrict embryonic stem cell research using state or private funds.

This ban was in line with conservative Christian supporters who regarded embryonic stem cell research as research that destroyed potential life as the cells were extracted from human embryos.

Obama during his presidential campaign had said he intended to overturn this directive and in his inaugural address last month promised to return science to its proper place in the United States.

Scientists believe stem cell research has unlimited potential to cure a variety of diseases including Parkinson's disease, diabetes, heart disease and spinal cord injuries.  Stem cells are the body’s master cells from which all the tissue’s organs and blood develop and embryonic stem cells are considered the most powerful of the stem cells as they can develop into any type of cell in the body.

Last month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration went ahead with the first trial to see if human embryonic cells could be safely used to treat humans. This trial is going to try to use stem cells from already existing lines to re-grow nerve tissue in patients with crushed spinal cords.