November 2007: landmark month in stem cell research. Wilmut drops SCNT approach.
First, New Jersey rejected the $450 million bond issue; then, monkey cloning was announced in the journal Nature by researchers at the Oregon Primate Center; now, Ian Wilmut, of Dolly the Sheep fame, announces he is abandoning SCNT. Curiously, these monumental developments have transpired approximately on the second anniversary of the unraveling of the monstrous fraud of Hwang Woo Suk.
Roger Highfield reported in The Telegraph:
Prof Ian Wilmut's decision to turn his back on "therapeutic cloning", just days after US researchers announced a breakthrough in the cloning of primates, will send shockwaves through the scientific establishment.
(...)
Prof Wilmut, who works at Edinburgh University, believes a rival method pioneered in Japan has better potential for making human embryonic cells which can be used to grow a patient's own cells and tissues for a vast range of treatments, from treating strokes to heart attacks and Parkinson's, and will be less controversial than the Dolly method, known as "nuclear transfer."
His announcement could mark the beginning of the end for therapeutic cloning, on which tens of millions of pounds have been spent worldwide over the past decade. "I decided a few weeks ago not to pursue nuclear transfer," Prof Wilmut said.
Most of his motivation is practical but he admits the Japanese approach is also "easier to accept socially."
His inspiration comes from the research by Prof Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, which suggests a way to create human embryo stem cells without the need for human eggs, which are in extremely short supply, and without the need to create and destroy human cloned embryos, which is bitterly opposed by the pro life movement.
One significant comment at the Telegraph:
I agree with comment on lowering journalistic standards. Roger Highfield didn't check his facts:
"the Oregon research was reproduced by Dr David Cram and colleagues at Monash University, Melbourne"
Dr. Cram didn't reproduce Mitalipov's research, HE VERIFIED THAT RESULTS WERE TRUE.
Author forgot to mention that Prof Wilmut FAILED TO GET CLONING LICENCE IN UK. COULD IT BE ONE OF THE REASONS HE DECIDED TO QUIT?
Also:
Dr. Wilmut is a brilliant and pragmatic geneticist. Unlike many in the media, he is simply acknowledging a scientific fact: the nuclear transfer technique that is so hyped up doesn't seem to work. None of us really understand why. It should work. It would be helpful if it worked. But it doesn't. For those of us with limited research budgets, therefore, the Japanese technique is more useful and more likely to yield workable medical treatments, and it's time for all of us to devote more effort to further developing it.
See other IPBiz posts:
http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/09/steven-edwards-got-into-some-ip.html
http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-stem-cell-stuff.html
Roger Highfield reported in The Telegraph:
Prof Ian Wilmut's decision to turn his back on "therapeutic cloning", just days after US researchers announced a breakthrough in the cloning of primates, will send shockwaves through the scientific establishment.
(...)
Prof Wilmut, who works at Edinburgh University, believes a rival method pioneered in Japan has better potential for making human embryonic cells which can be used to grow a patient's own cells and tissues for a vast range of treatments, from treating strokes to heart attacks and Parkinson's, and will be less controversial than the Dolly method, known as "nuclear transfer."
His announcement could mark the beginning of the end for therapeutic cloning, on which tens of millions of pounds have been spent worldwide over the past decade. "I decided a few weeks ago not to pursue nuclear transfer," Prof Wilmut said.
Most of his motivation is practical but he admits the Japanese approach is also "easier to accept socially."
His inspiration comes from the research by Prof Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, which suggests a way to create human embryo stem cells without the need for human eggs, which are in extremely short supply, and without the need to create and destroy human cloned embryos, which is bitterly opposed by the pro life movement.
One significant comment at the Telegraph:
I agree with comment on lowering journalistic standards. Roger Highfield didn't check his facts:
"the Oregon research was reproduced by Dr David Cram and colleagues at Monash University, Melbourne"
Dr. Cram didn't reproduce Mitalipov's research, HE VERIFIED THAT RESULTS WERE TRUE.
Author forgot to mention that Prof Wilmut FAILED TO GET CLONING LICENCE IN UK. COULD IT BE ONE OF THE REASONS HE DECIDED TO QUIT?
Also:
Dr. Wilmut is a brilliant and pragmatic geneticist. Unlike many in the media, he is simply acknowledging a scientific fact: the nuclear transfer technique that is so hyped up doesn't seem to work. None of us really understand why. It should work. It would be helpful if it worked. But it doesn't. For those of us with limited research budgets, therefore, the Japanese technique is more useful and more likely to yield workable medical treatments, and it's time for all of us to devote more effort to further developing it.
See other IPBiz posts:
http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/09/steven-edwards-got-into-some-ip.html
http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-stem-cell-stuff.html
posted by Lawrence B. Ebert at 8:30 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home