One of the world’s leading stem cell scientists has entered a partnership with the disgraced Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk.

One of the world’s leading stem cell scientists has entered a partnership with the disgraced Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk to pursue cloning research in China, Science reports.

Shoukhrat Mitalipov, of the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, was the first to successfully derive stem cells from a cloned human embryo in 2013. A South Korean newspaper, Dong-A Ilbo,  has revealed that he will be working with Hwang on both animal and human cloning.

Hwang came undone in 2006 after it was discovered that two papers he had published claiming that he had created human embryonic stem cells were bogus. He was convicted of fraud and bioethics violations but received a suspended sentence. For many Koreans, he is still a hero.

Mitalipov’s “strength is in primate stem cells,” Hwang told the newspaper. “My specialty is in cell nuclear transplantation. So we’ve agreed that if we combine his strength with mine, we can create a breakthrough outcome in curing maternal line genetic disease, on which he is now focusing.”

Providing US$93 million for their project will be the Boyalife Group of Wuxi, China. Hwang says the laboratories will be sited there because the bioethics laws in Korea are prohibitively strict. 

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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