There has been much excitement in the last fortnight or so over what is being interpreted as India’s arrival at the frontiers of biomedical research. Although stem cell research has been quietly under way for some time, the listing of India as a source of stem cell lines by the US National Institute of Health brings the development into the open. Two institutions, Reliance Life Sciences and the Bangalore-based National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCB), have been recognised as among 10 institutions all over the world which may be doing collaborative research in the area and which have been made eligible for US federal grants. This has put the department of biotechnology (DBT) in something of a tight spot – but all its own doing.