Gene & Human Cloning

Dr. dr. H.Yuwono, M.Biomed.

Departemen Mikrobiologi-Kedokteran Molekul FK Unsri/RSMH
Palembang
E-mail: yuwonodr@gmail.com
 What is Cloning?

• Cloning is the production of one or more

individual plants or animals (whole or in
part) that are genetically identical to an
original plant or animal.
 Fundamentals

• A group of replicas of all or part of a macromolecule

such as DNA
• An individual grown from a single cell of its parent and
genetically identical to it
• A tool to make multiple copies of a single gene or
sequence
• Gene cloning is NOT animal cloning
 Why Clone a Gene?
• A particular gene can be isolated and its nucleotide
sequence can be determined
• Coding regions and control elements like promoters
can be identified and analyzed
• Protein/enzyme/RNA function can be investigated
• Mutations can be identified, e.g. gene defects
related to specific diseases
• Organisms can be ‘engineered’ for specific
purposes, e.g. insulin production, insect resistance,
etc.
• If a protein is not abundant naturally, its gene can be
cloned to produce the protein in large amounts
 JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY, Aug. 1994, p. 4993-5000Vol. 176, No. 16
Cloning and Characterization of a Gene Affecting the
Methicillin Resistance Level and the Autolysis Rate in
Staphylococcus aureus
HIDEKI MAKI,* TAKAHIRO YAMAGUCHI, AND KAZUHISA MURAKAMI
Kanzakigawa Laboratory, Shionogi Research Laboratories, Shionogi & Co., Ltd., Toyonaka,
Osaka 561, Japan
Tn918 mutagenesis of a high-level methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (methicillin MIC,
800 pug/ml) led to the isolation of a low-resistance mutant. The Tn918 insert was transferred back
to the parent to produce strain SRM563 (methicillin MIC, 12.5 jig/ml), which showed
heterogeneous resistance. Twenty-two clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus were
transformed with DNA of SRM563. In the transformants of most strains, instances of reduced
resistance were observed with concomitant increases of autolysis rate induced by Triton X-100
and were generally more profound in high-resistance strains. Two transformants exhibited a
decrease of the autolysis rate and little reduction of resistance. In the transformant of methicillin-
susceptible strain RN2677, an increase of the autolysis rate and little reduction of resistance were
observed. The production of low-affinity penicillin-binding protein (PBP2') did not significantly
decrease in the mutants.Insertion of Tn.918 occurred within the 3'-terminal region of a novel gene
designated llm, which was cloned and sequenced. RNA blot analysis demonstrated that the gene
was transcribed. The encoded protein was composed of 351 amino acid residues with a
molecular weight of 38,512 and was hydrophobic, suggesting its location on the membrane. The
gene was detected by PCR in all S. aureus strains tested but not in the other 26 staphylococcal
species. Comparison of the 3'-terminal sequences of the gene among several S. aureus strains
showed that, whereas nucleotide substitutions occurred at the third position in seven of eight 3'-
terminal codons, only C-terminal amino acid variation of glutamate or aspartate was observed.
 Process Overview

• The source DNA can be from virus, plants, animal cells

or even fossils
• The source DNA is then fragmented by digesting with
restriction enzymes
• The fragments are then ligated to a plasmid vector,
which is also cut with the same combination of
restriction enzymes. The ligated product is now a
recombinant plasmid
• The recombinant plasmid is now introduced into a
bacterium such as E.coli and multiple copies of the
plasmid are generated in the clones of bacterial
colonies
Restriction Modification System
 Restriction Enzymes
• Restriction enzymes are sequence specific
• Endonucleases – cut from within unlike exonucleases
• Break the phosphodiester bonds of the DNA

Types of base cutters

• Restriction enzymes can be 4-base cutters such as Sau3A
or 6-base cutter such as EcoRI or even 8-base cutters
• Recognition sequences shown above are mostly
palindromes – invert repeats
What Kind of Ends Do Restriction Enzymes Produce?
Restriction enzymes such as EcoRI can generate sticky ends
whereas enzymes such as HaeIII produce blunt ends
 How to Know That a Plasmid is Cut with a
Given Restriction Enzyme?
• Plasmids are covalently closed circular molecules (CCC)
• Plasmids can essentially exist in three forms: (a) Circular form (CCC), (b)
Nicked form or open circular where any one of the strand is cut (OC) and
(c) Linear form when both the strands of the plasmid are cut.
• The mobility of the three forms on an agarose gel is different. The circular
form being compact has the highest mobility and will run fastest followed
by linear form and the nicked form
• Thus by monitoring mobility of the different forms of the plasmid on
agarose gel one can predict whether a given plasmid has been cut with a
restriction enzyme.
Quality Control of Restriction Enzymes

Restriction enzymes used for cloning work are

essentially endonucleases and should not be
contaminated with exonuclease activity. This may
lead to loss of sticky ends generated after an
enzyme cuts through its recognition sequence.
Consequently, ligation to vector will fail. Similarly,
phosphatase contamination can prevent ligation of
foreign gene to vector.
 LIGATION
• The most important precaution
prior to setting up a ligation
reaction is to ensure that the
cut vector is prevented from
recircularization.

• This is achieved by digesting

the plasmid by the same
restriction enzyme(s) as the
foreign gene followed by
treatment with alkaline
phosphatase which removes
the terminal phosphate groups
from the cut ends of the
plasmid. This ensures that the
cut plasmid does not
recircularize.
 Directional Cloning
• Directional cloning is necessary when the
product of the gene has to be synthesized e.g. if
a protein has to be made
• One way to insert DNA so that it will be properly
oriented with respect to the promoter is to create
DNA molecules whose ends have different
overhangs i.e. a DNA fragment cut with two
different enzymes. Ligation of such molecules
into the plasmid vector can only take place in
one orientation, to give directional cloning
 Genomic Libraries
• Genomic library is prepared by isolating total DNA from
the organism, digesting it into fragments of suitable size,
and cloning the fragments into an appropriate vector.
This approach is called shotgun cloning because the
strategy has no way of targeting a particular gene but
instead seeks to clone all the genes of the organism at
one time
• The intent is that at least one recombinant clone will
contain at least part of the gene of interest. Usually, the
isolated DNA is only partially digested by the chosen
restriction endonuclease so that not every restriction site
is cleaved in every DNA molecule.
 Vectors for Library Construction
Vector Insert Size

• Plasmid ~ 15.0 kbp

• λ Phage ~ 50.0 kbp
• Cosmid > 50.0 <100.0 kbp
• Bacterial artificial Chromosome (BAC) ~ 300.0 kbp
• Yeast artificial Chromosome (YAC) ~ 2000 kbp
Genomic Library
cDNA Library
Identification of Clone

Scheme of Colony Hybridization

(DNA-DNA Hybridization)
Southern Blot Hybridizations

• An analysis of DNA fragments

after electrophoresis to a
surface. DNA can be
transferred by diffusion or
electrophoresis to nylon
membrane or nitrocellulose.
• The DNA is denatured during
transfer or before, by soaking
in alkali solution.
• DNA is then immobilized. A
radioactive probe can then
hybridize to the membrane.
The probe will stick only if it
hybridizes to ant DNA
fragment. Un-hybridized
material is washed off.
• DNA is labeled by a variety of
methods radioactive and non-
radioactive.
Human Cloning
 Introduction
• Human cloning is the
creation of a
genetically identical
human being, human
cell or human tissue.
 Cloning
• Cloning produces
cells that are
genetically similar to
each other (have the
same DNA).
• This prevents an
organ (or cells) made
through cloning from
being rejected.
 Types of Cloning
 There are two types of cloning:
1) Therapeutic cloning is the use of (stem) cells
for medicinal or research purposes.
2) Reproductive cloning would be using (stem)
cells to create cloned humans.
Types of Cloning
 Therapeutic Cloning
1. Nucleus of an egg cell is
replaced with the nucleus
of a body cell.
2. Egg cell is stimulated with
electricity.
3. Embryo grows.
4. Embryo stem cells are
collected and used to
treat the donor.
Problems with Therapeutic Cloning
 Therapeutic cloning creates embryos and then
destroys them for stem cells, which is morally wrong
to some.
 Reproductive Cloning
1. Nucleus of an egg cell
is replaced with the
nucleus of a body cell.
2. Egg cell is stimulated
with electricity.
3. Embryo is put into a
uterus and allowed to
grow and be born.
4. The baby is an exact
genetic copy of the
donor!
 Problems with Reproductive
Cloning
• Reproductive cloning
is deemed morally
wrong because it is
creating a human life
just to be a walking
organ donor for the
person after whom
they were created.
 Human Cloning
• Human cloning has
sparked debate within
the scientific community
since the 1960s.
• Lots of movies have
been made concerning
the ethics of human
cloning
 Pro-Reproductive Cloning
 Severino Antinori and Panos Zavos hope to create a
fertility treatment that allows parents who are both
infertile to have children with at least some of their
DNA in their offspring.
 Some scientists, including Dr. Richard Seed, suggest
that human cloning might prevent the human aging
process.
 In Aubrey de Gray's proposed SENS (Strategies for
Engineered Negligible Senescence), one of the
considered options to repair the cell depletion related
to cellular senescence is to grow replacement tissues
from stem cells harvested from a cloned embryo.
 Anti-Reproductive Cloning
 Opponents of human cloning argue that the process
will likely lead to severely disabled children.
 Bioethicist Thomas Murray of the Hastings Centre
argues that "it is absolutely inevitable that groups are
going to try to clone a human being. But they are going
to create a lot of dead and dying babies along the
way.”
 Due to the difficulty of cloning any living animal, it is
likely that there would be a great number of failures in
the creation of a living human clone, such as clones
without viable immune systems or other gross genetic
failures.
 More Cloning?

 A third type of cloning called

replacement cloning is a
theoretical possibility, and
would be a combination of
therapeutic and reproductive
cloning.
 Replacement cloning would
entail the replacement of an
extensively damaged, failed,
or failing body through
cloning followed by whole or
partial brain transplant.
 Never been attempted…
that we know of.
How is therapeutic cloning done?

• First cloning: Dolly the Sheep showed up on the

scene in 1997. Cloning technologies have been
around for much longer than Dolly, though.

• How does one go about making an exact

genetic copy of an organism? There are a
couple of ways to do this: artificial embryo
twinning and somatic cell nuclear transfer. How
do these processes differ?
 Artificial Embryo Twinning

• Artificial embryo twinning: low-tech version of cloning 

this technology mimics the natural process of creating
identical twins.
• In nature, twins occur just after fertilization of an egg cell
by a sperm cell.
• In rare cases: a zygote, tries to divide into a two-celled
embryo the two cells separate  Each cell continues
dividing on its own, developing into a separate individual
within the mother.
• Since the two cells came from the same zygote, the
resulting individuals are genetically identical.
Artificial...
• Artificial embryo twinning uses the same approach, but it
occurs in a Petri dish instead of in the mother's body.

• This is accomplished by manually separating a very

early embryo into individual cells, and then allowing each
cell to divide and develop on its own.

• The resulting embryos are placed into a surrogate

mother, where they are carried to term and delivered.
Again, since all the embryos came from the same
zygote, they are genetically identical.
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT)

• Uses a different approach than artificial embryo twinning,

but it produces the same result: an exact clone, or genetic
copy, of an individual. This was the method used to create
Dolly the Sheep.

What does SCNT mean? Let's take it apart:

• Somatic cell: A somatic cell is any cell in the body other
than the two types of reproductive cells, sperm and egg.
These are also called germ cells. In mammals, every
somatic cell has two complete sets of chromosomes,
whereas the germ cells only have one complete set.
 SCNT...
• Nuclear: The nucleus is like the cell's brain. It's an
enclosed compartment that contains all the information that
cells need to form an organism. This information comes in
the form of DNA. It's the differences in our DNA that make
each of us unique.
• Transfer: Moving an object from one place to another.
• To make Dolly, researchers isolated a somatic cell from an
adult female sheep. Next, they transferred the nucleus
from that cell to an egg cell from which the nucleus had
been removed. After a couple of chemical tweaks, the egg
cell, with its new nucleus, was behaving just like a freshly
fertilized zygote. It developed into an embryo, which was
implanted into a surrogate mother and carried to term.
SCNT...

• The lamb, Dolly, was an exact genetic

replica of the adult female sheep that
donated the somatic cell nucleus to the
egg.
• She was the first-ever mammal to be
cloned from an adult somatic cell.
Is cloning an organism the same
as cloning a gene?

• Cloning animals - sheep, mice, even house

pets  in the news.

• Researchers want to cloning, or identifying,

genes that are responsible for various
medical conditions or traits.
• What is the different?
 What is the difference?
• Cloning an animal, or any other organism, refers
to making an exact genetic copy of that
organism.
• Cloning a gene means isolating an exact copy of
a single gene from the entire genome of an
organism. Usually this involves copying the DNA
sequence of that gene into a smaller, more
accessible piece of DNA, such as a plasmid.
This makes it easier to study the function of the
individual gene in the laboratory
 Why Clone?

• Research advances over the past decade have

told us that, with a little work, we humans can
clone just about anything we want, from frogs to
monkeys and probably even ourselves!
• So, we can clone things, but why would we want
to? Let's look at some of the reasons people
give to justify cloning.
Some of the reasons people give
to justify cloning.

• Cloning for medical purposes

• Reviving Endangered or Extinct Species
• Reproducing a Deceased Pet
• Cloning Humans?
Why would anyone want to clone
humans?

Some reasons include:

• To help infertile couples have children
• To replace a deceased child
What Are Some Issues In Cloning?

• We saw that the success rate in cloning is quite low.

• Even if we can increase the odds of success, problems can
arise during the clone's development, both before and after
pregnancy.
• Despite these risks, supporters of human reproductive
cloning see it as a possible solution to infertility problems.
• Others support therapeutic cloning to create embryonic
stem cells for research and medicine.
• What are the possible implications of cloning to society?
• All of us - researchers, policymakers and the public - have a
responsibility to explore the potential effects of cloning
technologies on our lives so that we can make informed
decisions.
 For each new application of cloning
technologies, we must consider:

• What are the benefits?

• What are the risks?
• Whom will the technology help?
• Does it have the potential to hurt anyone?
• What does this mean for me?
• For my family?
• For others around me?
• Why might others not share my view?
 Ethical, legal and social issues.

• There are several types of issues to consider as we think

about cloning.

• Ethical issues are those that ask us to consider the

potential moral outcomes of cloning technologies.

• Legal issues require researchers and the public to help

policymakers decide whether and how cloning
technologies should be regulated by the government.

• Social issues involve the impact of cloning technologies

on society as a whole
What are the Risks of Cloning?

• When we hear of cloning successes, we learn about only

the few attempts that worked.
• What we don't see are the many, many cloning
experiments that failed! And even in the successful
clones, problems tend to arise later, during the animal's
development to adulthood.
• Cloning animals shows us what might happen if we try to
clone humans. What have these animals taught us about
the risks of cloning?
 What are the Risks of Cloning?

• High failure rate

• Problems during later development
• Abnormal gene expression patterns
• Telomeric differences
 High failure rate
• Cloning animals through somatic cell
nuclear transfer is simply inefficient. The
success rate ranges from 0.1 percent to 3
percent, which means that for every 1000
tries, only one to 30 clones are made. Or
you can look at it as 970 to 999 failures in
1000 tries.
 High failure rate
Why is this? Here are some reasons:
• The enucleated egg and the transferred nucleus
may not be compatible
• An egg with a newly transferred nucleus may not
begin to divide or develop properly
• Implantation of the embryo into the surrogate
mother might fail
• The pregnancy itself might fail
 Problems during later
development
• Cloned animals that do survive tend to be much bigger
at birth than their natural counterparts. Scientists call this
"Large Offspring Syndrome" (LOS). Clones with LOS
have abnormally large organs. This can lead to
breathing, blood flow and other problems.
• Because LOS doesn't always occur, scientists cannot
reliably predict whether it will
• happen in any given clone. Also, some clones without
LOS have developed kidney or brain malformations and
impaired immune systems, which can cause problems
later in life.
Abnormal gene expression patterns

• In cloning, the transferred nucleus doesn't have

the same program as a natural embryo.
• It is up to the scientist to reprogram the nucleus,
like teaching an old dog new tricks.
• Complete reprogramming is needed for normal
or near-normal development. Incomplete
programming will cause the embryo to develop
abnormally or fail.
 Abnormal gene expression patterns

• Are the surviving clones really clones? The clones look

like the originals, and their DNA sequences are identical.
But will the clone express the right genes at the right time?
• In Click and Clone, we saw that one challenge is to re-
program the transferred nucleus to behave as though it
belongs in a very early embryonic cell. This mimics natural
development, which starts when a sperm fertilizes an egg.
• In a naturally-created embryo, the DNA is programmed to
express a certain set of genes. Later on, as the embryonic
cells begin to differentiate, the program changes. For
every
• type of differentiated cell - skin, blood, bone or nerve, for
example - this program is different.
 Telomeric differences
• As cells divide, their chromosomes get shorter. This is
because the DNA sequences at both ends of a
chromosome, called telomeres, shrink in length every
time the DNA is copied. The older the animal is, the
shorter its telomeres will be, because the cells have
divided many, many times. This is a natural part of
aging.
• So, what happens to the clone if its transferred nucleus
is already pretty old? Will the shortened telomeres affect
its development or lifespan?
 Telomeric differences

• When scientists looked at the telomere lengths of cloned

animals, they found no clear answers. Chromosomes
from cloned cattle or mice had longer telomeres than
normal. These cells showed other signs of youth and
seemed to have an extended lifespan compared with
cells from a naturally conceived cow. On the other hand,
Dolly the sheep's chromosomes had shorter telomere
lengths than normal. This means that Dolly's cells were
aging faster than the cells from a normal sheep.
• To date, scientists aren't sure why cloned animals show
differences in telomere length
Embryonic Stem Cells and
Therapeutic Cloning
 A fertilized egg

Notice the nuclei

from the egg and
sperm fusing
4 day old embryos
5 day old embryo at the blastocyst
stage
So, what do stem cells have to do with all this?

• Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are cells that have

yet to differentiate
• Derived from the inner cell mass of the
blastocyst stage of the embryo
 Embryonic Stem Cells can be cultured
in different laboratory environments to
develop into a specific cell type.

Liver cells

Cultured Nerve Cells

embryonic
stem cells
(developing an ESC line)

Muscle Cells

Different culture Different types of

conditions differentiated cells
 Medical Applications
• Repair a damaged tissue or group of cells
that can't heal itself.
– This might be accomplished by transplanting
ESCs into the damaged area and directing
them to grow new, healthy tissue.
– It may also be possible to coax stem cells
already in the body to work overtime and
produce new tissue.
– Tissue/Organ growth and transplants?
 Medical Applications
• Many of these therapies are still in the
infant stages and we don’t know what
other challenges will be faced as this
technology progresses.
– For example: How long will a stem cell
therapy last? Will these cells “behave”
themselves (differentiate into the correct cell
type, act as the intended cell type, and also
not form tumors)?
What sort of diseases or disorders could
stem cell therapies be utilized for?
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Alzheimer's
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Paralysis
• Diabetes
• Burns
• Genetic Disorders
 In vitro fertilization
Some procedures involved with IVF manually inject the sperm
into the egg, and others simply allow fertilization to occur by
adding the sperm to the egg in the lab setting.
 Why use IVF as a source of stem cells?

• According to a survey conducted in 2003, there

are approximately 400,000 unwanted pre-
embryos in the United States. (Source: Hoffman,
D.I., et al. 2003. Cryopreserved embryos in the
United States and their availability for research.
Fertility and Sterility 79: 1063-1069.)
• These may no longer be needed for fertility
purposes and remain frozen or could be
destroyed
 Other types of stem cells and
current stem cell therapies
• Adult Stem cells: These stem cells (can give
rise to a small number of different cell types) but
are already "committed" to differentiating along a
particular cellular development pathway (for
example, the “stem cells” we all have in our
bone marrow that can differentiate only into
various types of blood cells). Current therapies
utilize them from the bone marrow.
• Umbilical Cord Blood (Core Blood) Stem
cells: similar to “adult” stem cells above but
collected from the umbilical cord of a newborn.
The bone marrow is the You can also find
spongy core found in the
bones and is a source of
Adult Stem Cells these same type of
stem cells in the
adult stem cells. blood system:
Peripheral Blood
These stem cells are the
Stem Cells (PBSCs)
precursor cells responsible
for the formation of the Used to treat
blood cells (red blood leukemia, other
cells, platelets, and white cancers and various
blood cells). blood disorders
Less invasive than
collecting bone
marrow, but are
sparse!
 Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells

Multipotent stem cell rich blood found in

the umbilical cord has proven useful in
treating the same types of health
problems as those treated using bone
marrow stem cells

In 2005, there were more than 1,400 cord

blood transplantations in adults, according
to NETCORD, an international network that
coordinates umbilical cord blood banks

The process to collect and store a child’s cord

blood doesn’t come cheap. The company
“Cord Blood Registry”, for example, charges
and “initial fee” of $1975 and then it is $125
per year for storage.

Why would a parent consider this blood collection and why might it be
considered to have advantages over bone marrow stem cells?
Differences between embryonic stem
cells and adult stem cells:
-ESC can differentiate into any cell type
(totipotent/pluripotent) while adult SC
have already “committed” to a particular
fate (multipotent).

Some Challenges in Research:

-Adult stem cells are often present in
only minute quantities and can
therefore be difficult to isolate and
purify.
-There is also evidence that they may
not have the same capacity to multiply
as embryonic stem cells do.
-They do not have the development
potential that a ESC
-Finally, adult stem cells may contain
more DNA abnormalities—caused by
sunlight, toxins, and errors in making
more DNA copies during the course of
a lifetime.
-These potential weaknesses might
limit the usefulness of adult stem cells.
SCNT and Stem Cells
Notice that UNLIKE reproductive cloning, all we
are doing here is cloning embryonic cells and
then coercing them to differentiate into specific
cells the patient needs.
 SCNT Process (1)
Remove the nucleus
from an unfertilized
egg cell (A).
(Because the egg cell is only
100 micrometers, or one-tenth
of a millimeter wide, this is done
under a microscope.)
Use a suction pipette
(B) to hold the egg cell
steady and a glass
needle (C) to remove
the cell’s nucleus.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3209/04-clon-nf.html
 SCNT Process (2)
Gently push the glass
needle through the tough
shell that surrounds the
egg cell.

Here, the glass needle is in

the process of removing the
nucleus from within the egg.
If you look closely at the tip
of the needle, you can just
make out the genetic
material being drawn out.
 SCNT process (3)
• The egg cell’s nucleus (A) has
been released outside of the
egg. This nuclear material will
no longer be needed.
• What remains is an
“enucleated” egg (B). The
nucleus, with the important
genetic information, no longer
remains but the enucleated egg
still have certain molecules and
other important factors that will
ultimately help to establish
embryonic stem cells.
 SCNT process (4)
Inject the nucleus (at arrow)
from a donor cell into the
enucleated egg cell.
(Such a donor cell might be a skin cell
from a disease sufferer whom doctors
hope to treat using the patient’s own stem
cells grown in culture)

Ease the tip of the glass

needle deep into the
enucleated egg cell. Then,
deposit the donor nucleus.
 SCNT process (5)
After completing the nuclear
transfer, the unfertilized egg
cell is “activated” using a
chemical or electrical
treatment that stimulates
cellular division.

The first division results in

two cells (left image), the
next makes four cells, and
so on. This structure is now
termed an embryo.

Now, at this point, if this was a sheep embryo and we

implanted it into a surrogate ewe……what would we get?
 SCNT process (6)
The proliferating cells form a
structure called a blastocyst
within days. It is roughly the
same size as the egg cell.

The right-hand image shows the

blastocyst “hatching”
An embryonic stem cell line has now been synthesized, the
cells have the same DNA as the donor. These cells can be
“customized”; they can be made into any cell/tissue/organ
of the body and transplanted (in theory) to the donor
without immune rejection.

(The cells may have their

genes “corrected” before
being transplanted to an
individual.)
 Therapeutic cloning (SCNT):
Could the technique “fix” a gene
(alternative to gene therapy)?
• Theoretically a person with a gene defect can
have a transplant of new cells/tissue/organ that
are customized for them (no immune rejection
because the transplanted cells are their own
cells) EXCEPT a “good” copy of the gene they
are defective in has been inserted
 First things first…
Can we make ESCs into the cells of
specific organs?
• Scientists at Imperial College London reported in
2005 that they successfully coaxed embryonic
stem cells to change into specialized lung cells.
Researchers describe their study in the journal
Tissue Engineering.
– "Although it will be some years before we are able to
build actual human lungs for transplantation, this is a
major step towards deriving cells that could be used
to repair damaged lungs," the study's lead author,
Anne Bishop, said in a press statement.

• Interesting and exciting, but again, still in infant stages

The Media had a field day reporting on:
Hwang Woo-Suk
Hwang Woo-Suk was a professor and
prominent researcher in the College of
Veterinary Medicine at Seoul National
University. In February 2004, Hwang
and his team announced that they had
successfully created embryonic stem
cells with the somatic cell nuclear
transfer method, and published their
paper in Science (one of the most
prestigious scientific journals there is) in
March 2004. A second paper, published
in May 2005, reported the creation of 11
stem cell lines that genetically matched
nine patients with spinal cord injury,
diabetes, and an immune system
disorder.
• This, the first breakthrough of its kind, renewed
hopes that such stem cells could someday lead
to insights into many hereditary conditions as
well as the creation of replacement tissues
genetically matched to patients and treat
degenerative diseases.
• Hwang Woo-Suk even made TIME Magazines
list of “People Who Mattered 2004”.
• Those hopes, however, began to unravel in
June 2005, when someone sent a message to
the "tip off " mailbox on the Web site of a long-
running investigative TV news program in Seoul.
• The writer said his conscience had been
bothering him over problems he knew of with
Hwang's research…..
• Reporters interviewed co-authors of the 2005
paper and found that the majority had never
actually seen the cloned embryonic stem cells.
• The university in Seoul investigated and
concluded that the data reported in both the
2004 and 2005 Science papers was fabricated.
• Science magazine retracted the papers.
• Hwang Woo-Suk was accused of "research
misbehavior” and was dismissed from his
position in 2006.
 What did he really do, and what was fabricated?
• Hwang “did not have any proof to show that cloned
embryonic stem cells were ever created,” the panel
said in a report, disputing the central claim in
Hwang’s 2004 paper in the journal Science.
• In the paper, Hwang said he had cloned a human
embryo and extracted stem cells from it. But the
university cast doubt on whether an embryo was
cloned, saying there is a high possibility it could
have merely been a mutated egg, which could
appear to have similar qualities of an embryo.
• “The 2004 paper was written on fabricated data to
show that the stem cells match the DNA of the
provider although they didn’t,” the report said.
• The panel upheld Hwang’s claims last year to have
created the world’s first cloned dog, an Afghan
hound named Snuppy. The journal Nature (another
very prestigious scientific journal), which published
Hwang’s cloned-dog article, said results from its
independent tests also showed Snuppy was indeed
a clone. (This accomplishment not as noteworthy
because many other animals have been closed
previously).
Terima Kasih