The two scientists would seem an odd match. In 2006, Woo Suk Hwang had to retract two papers published in Science in which his team claimed it had used the technique employed in cloning Dolly the sheep to create human embryonic stem cells matched to specific people who had various diseases. After investigators determined all the claims were bogus, Hwang was fired from Seoul National University and later convicted of embezzling research funds and bioethics violations. He escaped jail time with a suspended sentence. Since his downfall, Hwang has quietly continued his cloning work on animals, particularly pet dogs, at Seoul-based Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, a private institute friends established specifically for him.
Despite his claims being deemed fraudulent by a Seoul National University panel, Hwang was awarded an American patent covering his technique in February 2014. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, of the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, made a series of breakthroughs in primate stem cell research in recent years. He reported in May 2013 using the Dolly technique, known more formally as somatic cell nuclear transfer, to derive stem cells from cloned human embryos, including from a baby with an inherited disorder. More recently he has published several papers related to gene replacement to prevent inherited mitochondrial diseases. He also founded MitoGenome Therapeutics, reportedly to commercialize his work.
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