Monkey-Cow Stem Cells to Be Created in Korea

Inter-Species Stem Cells to Be Created Monkey-Cow Research May Heal Incurable Diseases Korean Times – 02-23-2007 A team of Korean scientists has come close to creating interspecies stem cells by combining monkey cells with cow ova for the first time in history. When applied to human cells, the feats are expected to accelerate cell therapy aimed at healing incurable diseases such as diabetes or Alzheimer's. The team, headed by Koo Deog-bon at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, said Friday they had established a monkey blastocyst, the source of stem cells, last month via interspecies nuclear transfer. ”We started the task of infusing monkey somatic cells into cow ova, from which the nuclei had been removed, last November. After hundreds of failures, we made a blastocyst in January,” Koo said. .......... ”It failed to thrive. But we became sure of the potential of interspecies research - creating a blastocyst and extracting stem cell batches from it,” the 41-year-old senior researcher said. .......... ”We will generate more monkey blastocysts to achieve our goals of culturing stem cell lines with them earlier than our competitors,” said Koo at the state-backed institute. .......... ”If we are successful, we will be able to apply the technologies to humans - making stem cells with animal ova - if society allows such an idea,” Koo said. .......... ZenMaster