The U.S. Senate is expected to approve a measure to broaden federally funded research on embryonic stem cells. But some government officials and scientists say the strict limits imposed by the Bush administration are only part of what's hindering stem-cell research. Another road-block to the research is that broad patents are held by a University of Wisconsin foundation. The broadly worded patents, which cover nearly any use of human embryonic stem cells, are held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, a non-profit group that handles the school's intellectual-property estate. A California watchdog group, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights of Santa Monica, says it will ask the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to overturn three patents awarded to James A. Thomson, the Wisconsin researcher who first isolated stem cells from human embryos in 1998.