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According to a report in the Korea Times, space is being set aside in this new center for Dr. Hwang's research colleague from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Pittsburg Development Center (PDC), Dr. Gerald Schatten, and for their collaborator from the Roslin Institute in Scotland, Dr. Ian Wilmut, creator of Dolly the cloned sheep.

The emerging collaboration among these three giants in the field of embryonic stem cell research and cloning, first noted in an Etopia Media Medical News Network article on May 20, 2005, entitled "Collaboration emerges among the human embryonic stem cell/cloning "Big Three": Hwang Woo-Suk, Gerald Schatten, and Ian Wilmut," moves to a new level with the creation of the Hwang Woo-Suk Research Center. According to the Korea Times:

"The cutting-edge research facility, which will be completed by October 2006, will house research facilities for primate studies, stem cell research, animal cloning, and cell transplant and molecular biology research projects.

"Renowned foreign science research centers plan to establish branch offices in the new laboratory building to conduct joint research with professor Hwang, the university said. Those include a research team led by Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and another team led by Ian Wilmut, a Scottish embryologist with the Roslin Institute who succeeded in cloning the sheep 'Dolly' for the first time in the world."

Shortly after the announcement of the successful customized cloning experiment in Dr. Hwang's laboratory, he began speaking about the creation of a "worldwide stem cell bank" in South Korea.

More recent coverage of this planned stem cell bank appeared on August 15, 2005, on the web site of The Scientist magazine, in an article by Stephen Pincock entitled "Hwang plans world stem cell hub."

That article talks about Dr. Schatten:

"Schatten, who collaborated with Hwang on the dog cloning effort, said the intention is to set up the hub as an independent body, not necessarily under Seoul National University where Hwang works, but directly under the government.

"Detailed plans are still being worked out, but the president of South Korea is expected to make a formal announcement on October 19, he said."

This article in The Scientist also has this comment from Dr. Wilmut:

"Among the researchers who plan to work with Hwang is Ian Wilmut, cloner of Dolly the sheep. Wilmut said the existence of numerous stem cell banks would be a boon to science. 'I cannot imagine that there will be only one stem cell bank in the world," he said. "I suggest that they each have the same role and will indeed cooperate. This will facilitate exchange of cells between different labs, wherever they are in the world.'

"Wilmut, along with Chris Shaw of King's College London, visited Hwang's group recently. He told The Scientist via E-mail that he hopes to collaborate with the Korean researcher.

"'I think that his expertise in deriving stem cells from cloned embryos is exceptional,' he said. 'I also believe that this methodology can be used to study inherited human diseases, such as motor neuron disease (ALS).'"

One concrete result of the collaboration between Dr. Hwang and Dr. Wilmut may be progress in investigating the origins and possible treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

A May 20, 2005, article in Britain's The Sunday Times by Sarah-Kate Templeton entitled "Dying Briton pins last hope on cloning," reports that a patient with what the British call "motor neurone disease" and the Americans call Lou Gehrig's disease had volunteered to become a source of DNA for the creation of customized embryonic stem cells that would allow researchers to investigate the evolution of this degenerative and genetically-based disease. Writes Templeton:

"A SELF-EMPLOYED businessman is poised to become one of the first Britons to be cloned. Bryan O’Regan could soon be replicated in an experiment being conducted in South Korea.…

"O’Regan is a patient of Professor Christopher Shaw at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London who, along with Professor Ian Wilmut, the creator of Dolly the sheep, has linked up with a South Korean cloning team to research a cure for MND….

"The collaboration brings together two cloning pioneers — Wilmut and Professor Woo-suk Hwang of South Korea, who cloned the first human embryo last year.

"The British experts plan to send cells from the skin of British patients to South Korea where they will be cloned. They will then derive embryonic stem cells — with the potential to form any tissue in the body — from days-old clones. These stem cells will be shipped back to Britain where they will be studied by Shaw and other researchers from Wilmut’s team."

Under the British system, government approval is necessary for cloning and embryonic stem cell research. According to a more recent press announcement from the Roslin Institute, where Dr. Wilmut carries on his investigations, Drs. Wilmut and Shaw have now received official government permission to proceed with the research referenced in the May 20, 2005, Sunday Times article.

The press release, dated August 2, 2005, and entitled "HFEA grants license to use cell nuclear replacement for the study of motor neurone disease," reports that:

"Dolly-the-sheep creator, Professor Ian Wilmut with Dr. Paul de Sousa who are both from the Roslin Institute and King’s College London researcher, Professor Christopher Shaw, have today announced that they have been granted a license by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to generate stem cell lines using Cell Nuclear Replacement for the study of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

"'This is only the second license ever granted by the HFEA to use this technique, often referred to as therapeutic cloning. Our aim will be to generate stem cells purely for research purposes' said Professor Wilmut.

"The researchers plan to generate stem cells that carry MND-causing gene defects. By turning these stem cells into motor neurones they will have a unique opportunity to discover what cause these cells to degenerate. ‘We will compare the behaviour and chemical profile of neurones with the gene defect to those without. This will tell us about the earliest events that ultimately lead to cell death’ said Professor Shaw."

On August 2, 2005, all three cloning/hESC pioneers, Hwang Woo-Suk, Ian Wilmut, and Gerald Schatten, met for a "cloning summit" in Seoul.

english.choson.com's BizTech web site reported on this summit in an August 2, 2005, article entitled "Dr. Hwang Woo-suk to Conduct Joint Research with Two Other Stem Cell Experts," in which it said:

"The world's three renowned stem cell experts, led by Korea's Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, are gathering in Seoul this week. Until early next week, the scientists say they will combine their know-how and conduct joint research on developing cures for terminally ill patients.

",,,this week in Seoul, Dr. Hwang will meet two other stem cell experts from the U.S. and Britain to launch a joint research on finding ways to treat incurable human ailments.

"Dr. Gerald Schatten is an American pioneer in cloning monkeys using the stem cell technique, and Dr. Ian Wilmut is the one who produced Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell."

"The three are set to meet on Thursday to discuss details and the timetable of their joint study, as well as establishing an international stem cell bank in Seoul.

"'The center of the universe in stem cell research is here in Seoul. There's no question.'

"During the much-anticipated joint research, Dr. Hwang is expected to provide Dr. Schatten and Dr. Wilmut with his know-how in human embryonic stem cell research, while Dr. Schatten provides his cloning method that splits the original cells in an embryo to make multiple identical animals.

"Dr. Wilmut is also said to provide his technique in treating Lou Gehrig's disease."

This meeting was also reported on the Yahoo! News site under the title "Top cloning experts gather in South Korea for clandestine test" and on the AsiaNews.it site as "Leading cloning scientists in Seoul for “secret experiments".

There are still some flies in the South Korea embryonic stem cell research ointment. According to a report in the AsiaNews.it article cited above:

"Mgr Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, Seoul Archbishop, has repeatedly stated his opposition to stem cell research: the Korean Church is not against stem cell research per se, but it is against embryonic stem cell research because embryos are held to be already human life. 'Professor Hwang's work carries serious repercussions, because it hurts life even if it is to find cures for incurable diseases,' said the Archbishop in a statement issued some weeks ago."

According to an August 4, 2005, article in the Korea Times by its staff reporter Kim Tae-gyu entitled "'Hwang Over-Shares Credit'":

"Prof. Hwang Woo-suk at Seoul National University, South Korea's stem cell pioneer, is under fire for giving too much credit for his strides in cloning research to a foreign scientist.

"Some scientists say that this could weaken Hwang's standing, particularly when he is up for a Nobel prize.

”A Seoul geneticist, who wanted to be identified by just his surname, Park, yesterday argued Hwang gives too much credit to Prof. Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh, in relation to the contributions he made."

Also contained within this article is the only-known photo showing Drs. Hwang Woo-Suk, Ian Wilmut, and Gerald Schatten together. The photo is credited to the Yonhap News agency.

Also on the downside, a blogger identified as "baduk," in an August 5, 2005, post has some less-than-complimentary things to say about the Three Amigos of Cloning, writing:

"Schatten and Wilmut are both under suspicion by other scientists. They are not cloning leaders. They are considered shalatans [sic] and magicians.

"Their works are never duplicated in any other lab. The three liars, Hwang, Schatten and Wilmut formed unholy alliance to cover each other. Their techniques are never shared with other scientists, not even between the three.

"The cloning is a lie done in darkness, only borrowing the name of science. The science must done by laboratory proof, preferrably [sic] done by a third and neutral party."

Sale of the $3 billion in California state embryonic stem cell research bonds (which will require at least $6 billion in taxpayer funds for their repayment) authorized in November, 2004, under the terms of Proposition 71, has been put off, due to what is now a single, consolidated lawsuit seeking to block their sale and the expenditure of the money raised by an organization (the Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee [ICOC]) that embryonic stem cell research opponents claim violates California's legal requirement that entities spending taxpayer dollars be under the complete control of the state government.

You can read about the court decision that consolidated two separate such lawsuits into one and listen to an audio interview with one of the now-consolidated case's attorneys by clicking here.

In Washington, D.C., in the U.S. Congress, a significant turn-around by U.S. Senator from Tennessee, possible 2008 Republican presidential candidate, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, in which he said he'd support an appropriately-modified version of H.R. 810, which would allow for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research using pre-existing human embryos created during the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF), was followed by shouts of opposition and support, and then by a Congressional vacation which is still on-going.

You can read about Frist's change of position on the issue of embryonic stem cell research and about the situation worldwide regarding embryonic stem cell research as of that date, by clicking on "Stem cell update, August 4, 2005.".

In a May 20, 2005, article from Reuters news agency, it's reported that:

"A South Korean scientist said on Friday a groundbreaking study on stem cell research was funded with less than $200,000 a year in largely government grants. Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University said they had successfully created batches of embryonic stem cells from patients."

In a June 6, 2005, article entitled "$5 million donation for stem cell startup-- Sound expert Dolby, wife will help boost program in trouble," it's reported that:

"San Francisco sound pioneer Ray Dolby and his wife, Dagmar, are offering $5 million to rescue the California stem cell program from startup troubles, state officials said Sunday….

"During a telephone interview, [Chair of the Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee Robert] Klein said the $5 million will be used to hire the legal, scientific and intellectual-property staff needed to proceed with the first grant programs, while the institute also pursues a $100 million short-term bridge financing plan."

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