Stem cell foundation greeted by cautious optimism
http://www.100md.com
《英国医生杂志》
The establishment of the World Stem Cell Foundation, announced earlier this month by Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University, is being greeted as a step forward in the contentious area of stem cell research.
Professor Hwang is considered the leading expert in somatic cell nuclear transfer, or therapeutic cloning. His was the first laboratory to clone a dog, an Afghan hound named Snuppy ( BMJ 2005;331: 366). He and his colleagues also made head-lines when they successfully cloned human stem cells and created disease specific embryonic stem cell lines without fertilised embryos.
In therapeutic cloning, mature cell nuclei are injected into oocytes from which the nucleus has been removed. The oocytes are then allowed to develop into embryos.
Professor Woo Suk Hwang tells the press how his centre will work
Credit: LEE JIN-MAN/AP
The foundation's headquarters will be in Seoul, with satellite laboratories in Oxford and San Francisco. Investigators at all three sites will harvest ova from local donors and do therapeutic cloning at the satellite laboratories. They will then take the cells to the main laboratory in Seoul for development into embryonic stem cell lines. Ultimately, the foundation expects to develop as many as 100 cell lines each year. The lines will not be patented.
In an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, Susan Okie said that some US scientists were concerned that keeping the base of operations in Seoul might slow their own efforts to develop proficiency in therapeutic cloning ( 2005;353: 1645). And the ethical questions remain, she said, even though the research will be legal in most US states as long as the investigators do not use federal funds.
Shane Smith, the scientific director of the Children's Neurobiological Solutions Foundation in Santa Barbara, California, which promotes research on genetic and acquired neurological disorders, said: "Right now, there are no good human models for the diseases we represent."(Norra MacReady)
Professor Hwang is considered the leading expert in somatic cell nuclear transfer, or therapeutic cloning. His was the first laboratory to clone a dog, an Afghan hound named Snuppy ( BMJ 2005;331: 366). He and his colleagues also made head-lines when they successfully cloned human stem cells and created disease specific embryonic stem cell lines without fertilised embryos.
In therapeutic cloning, mature cell nuclei are injected into oocytes from which the nucleus has been removed. The oocytes are then allowed to develop into embryos.
Professor Woo Suk Hwang tells the press how his centre will work
Credit: LEE JIN-MAN/AP
The foundation's headquarters will be in Seoul, with satellite laboratories in Oxford and San Francisco. Investigators at all three sites will harvest ova from local donors and do therapeutic cloning at the satellite laboratories. They will then take the cells to the main laboratory in Seoul for development into embryonic stem cell lines. Ultimately, the foundation expects to develop as many as 100 cell lines each year. The lines will not be patented.
In an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, Susan Okie said that some US scientists were concerned that keeping the base of operations in Seoul might slow their own efforts to develop proficiency in therapeutic cloning ( 2005;353: 1645). And the ethical questions remain, she said, even though the research will be legal in most US states as long as the investigators do not use federal funds.
Shane Smith, the scientific director of the Children's Neurobiological Solutions Foundation in Santa Barbara, California, which promotes research on genetic and acquired neurological disorders, said: "Right now, there are no good human models for the diseases we represent."(Norra MacReady)