South Korea's Disgraced Scientist Goes Into Pet-Cloning Business
By Associated Press,
Associated Press
| 05. 14. 2008
SEOUL, South Korea — Disgraced South Korean stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk has set up a bio-technology firm specializing in cloning pet animals, a scientist close to Hwang said Wednesday.
Hwang, whose breakthrough human cloning research was later proved to be faked, recently established a new research firm in Seoul, said Park Se-pill, a Cheju National University professor and well-known stem cell scientist. Park said he spoke with Hwang a few days ago.
"He told me that he needs foreign capital to continue his research, but it's difficult to get it unless he sets up a new research institute and becomes its head," Park said.
Last month, the Korean Customs Service unveiled seven cloned Labrador retrievers being trained near Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, to sniff out drugs and explosives.
The cloning work was conducted by a team of Seoul National University scientists who in 2005 successfully created the world's first known dog clone, an Afghan hound named "Snuppy."
The team is led by Professor Lee Byeong-chun, who was a key aide to Hwang.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency...
Related Articles
By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 03.20.2024
There is a new most expensive drug ever—a gene therapy that costs as much as a Brooklyn brownstone or a Miami mansion, and more than the average person will earn in a lifetime.
Lenmeldy is a gene treatment for metachromatic...
By Carl Zimmer, The New York Times | 03.10.2024
In 1889, a French doctor named Francois-Gilbert Viault climbed down from a mountain in the Andes, drew blood from his arm and inspected it under a microscope. Dr. Viault’s red blood cells, which ferry oxygen, had surged 42 percent. He...
By Billy Perrigo, TIME | 03.11.2024
The U.S. government must move “quickly and decisively” to avert substantial national security risks stemming from artificial intelligence (AI) which could, in the worst case, cause an “extinction-level threat to the human species,” says a report commissioned by the U.S...
By Gerry Smith, Bloomberg | 03.12.2024
When Celenise Mahmood first learned about two new gene therapies that could cure sickle cell disease, she felt a wave of relief.
Her 9-year-old son, Navid, has the inherited blood disorder. By age 5, he’d had over 30 life-saving blood...