Word: hwang
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That's how a report in the journal Science sounded last week--at least at first blush. Woo Suk Hwang and Dr. Shin Yong Moon, from Korea's Seoul National University, announced that they had created more than 200 embryos by cloning mature human cells and had grown 30 of them to the blastocyst stage of development, each more than 100 cells strong. This isn't the first time cloned human embryos have been produced: in 2001 the Massachusetts biotech firm Advanced Cell Technology made several. They all died quickly, but in a sense the first cloned human cells...
That could ultimately prove to be an even bigger deal. Embryonic stem cells are the unspecialized raw material that give rise to every cell type in the body--in fact, some of Moon and Hwang's stem cells evidently turned into bone, muscle and immature brain cells. If scientists can learn to control their development, stem cells could in theory supply replacement tissues to treat any ailment involving cell damage--and there are plenty, including heart disease, diabetes, spinal-cord injury, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. "Our goal," said Hwang during a press conference at a meeting of the American...
...Diego. But given the high rate of spontaneous abortions and genetic defects seen in other species, it's not likely to work. The Science paper is a recipe for cloning, said Kennedy, "only in the sense that 'catch a turtle' is the recipe for turtle soup." Said Hwang: "In my humble opinion, it's not so easy to mimic our technology...
...South Korea is much richer now than in Hwang's youth, but he sticks to a spartan regime. He leaves his humble apartment in southern Seoul at 4:30 every morning to go to a public bathhouse, then heads to a center for traditional Korean breathing to meditate for 45 minutes. The practice "cleanses by body and mind," he says. "It is also a great time to think about research. Some of the ideas I got there have led to breakthroughs." He works seven days a week and never plays golf, a favorite pastime of Koreans of status. Says colleague...
...Hwang says his and Moon's cloning experiments were so complex that there was no eureka moment when they realized they had succeeded. But Hwang plans to celebrate when he gets back to Seoul. "I'm a country bumpkin who grew up in a rural village, and here I am in the United States receiving praise for what I have achieved. The day after I return to Korea, I'll take out my research team for kalbi (Korean-style ribs). Then we'll regroup and start again...