What Korea has done for the world
at 4:16pm on Thursday, 20th October 2005
Professor Ian Wilmut of University of Edinburgh (who cloned Dolly) and Professor Christopher Shaw of King's College London were perhaps less effusive during their talks, but equally positive. The day ranged from very emotional (Schatten's talk ended with a tribute to his mother who recently died of Alzheimer's) to very technical (I'd explain the technical bit if I'd had a few more years of biology). And then it was back to emotional again, because finally, the moment for Dr. Hwang's long-awaited talk arrived.
When the woops and loud applause died down (and just for comparison, earlier talks got a more of a tennis clap), Hwang spoke passionately about the need to continue basic research in areas of both embryonic and adult stem cells, telling personal stories of meeting patients afflicted with severe nerve damage or chronic diseases who plea for his help. He also described how a woman in his lab who regularly worked until 2am was able to achieve the somatic cell transfer technique which he's now honed to efficiency.
And he alluded to his many critics, both within the Korean academic community and outside it, some of the criticism apparently fueled by jealousy of his celebrity status and some for ethical reasons. I have to admit that when he showed videos of transgenic pigs being born (not a lot of mud for these little guys) and then their hearts transplanted (a ways to go yet before we're doing this in humans), I got a bit queasy. And that's not what people normally think of when they put 'ethics' and 'stem cells' in the same sentence. I am finding out more about the ethical debates in the Korean context -- but on Tuesday, the vibe was very positive.
Yesterday, the World Stem Cell Bank opened, with Hwang, Wilmut and Schatten leading the way. I have yet to hear the inside story, but it's all over the news.
Hwang is a huge source of pride here. From what I've been hearing in my visits to LG Life Sciences Research Institute, Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology, and Korea Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Hwang isn't an exception. Out of the 4 authors of the cover story of today's issue of Nature (The B to Z of DNA), 3 of them are Korean.
Until next year, I'm leaving Seoul to the biotechies and heading back to London ...
Professor Ian Wilmut of University of Edinburgh (who cloned Dolly) and Professor Christopher Shaw of King's College London were perhaps less effusive during their talks, but equally positive. The day ranged from very emotional (Schatten's talk ended with a tribute to his mother who recently died of Alzheimer's) to very technical (I'd explain the technical bit if I'd had a few more years of biology). And then it was back to emotional again, because finally, the moment for Dr. Hwang's long-awaited talk arrived.
When the woops and loud applause died down (and just for comparison, earlier talks got a more of a tennis clap), Hwang spoke passionately about the need to continue basic research in areas of both embryonic and adult stem cells, telling personal stories of meeting patients afflicted with severe nerve damage or chronic diseases who plea for his help. He also described how a woman in his lab who regularly worked until 2am was able to achieve the somatic cell transfer technique which he's now honed to efficiency.
And he alluded to his many critics, both within the Korean academic community and outside it, some of the criticism apparently fueled by jealousy of his celebrity status and some for ethical reasons. I have to admit that when he showed videos of transgenic pigs being born (not a lot of mud for these little guys) and then their hearts transplanted (a ways to go yet before we're doing this in humans), I got a bit queasy. And that's not what people normally think of when they put 'ethics' and 'stem cells' in the same sentence. I am finding out more about the ethical debates in the Korean context -- but on Tuesday, the vibe was very positive.
Yesterday, the World Stem Cell Bank opened, with Hwang, Wilmut and Schatten leading the way. I have yet to hear the inside story, but it's all over the news.
Hwang is a huge source of pride here. From what I've been hearing in my visits to LG Life Sciences Research Institute, Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology, and Korea Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Hwang isn't an exception. Out of the 4 authors of the cover story of today's issue of Nature (The B to Z of DNA), 3 of them are Korean.
Until next year, I'm leaving Seoul to the biotechies and heading back to London ...
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