Monday, November 1, 2010

paper 2

Hwang Woo Suk claims to have used the somatic cell nuclear transfer(SCNT) method which where the nucleus, contains the cells DNA is removed and the rest of the cell is thrown away, during this the nucleus of the egg cell is removed. The nucleus of the somatic cell is put into the enucleated egg cell. After being put into the egg cell it is reprogrammed by the host cell and now the egg containing the nucleus of a somatic cell will be stimulated with some short of shock and will begin to divide. The single cell forms a blastocyst, which is an early stage embryo with about 100 cells which will have DNA that is almost identical to the original organism, this is also the same process that was used to create Dolly the sheep.. These are the steps for the method that Hwang Woo Suk claimed to create an embryonic stem cell line.In 2004 Hwang and his team claimed they had created an embryonic stem cell with the SCNT method and their paper was published in the March 12, 2004 issue of Science. Hwang already had established a sort of trustworthiness from his experiences in animal cloning due to his claims being received typically well by the South Korean media and even people of South Korea, also until 2004 his research was based on creating livestock the was genetically modified. Hwangs claim was typically surprising because it was the only success reported in human somatic cell cloning. Also it was considered basically impossible because primates have such a complex development. Hwang also claified that he and his team used 242 eggs to create one single cell line.

Hwang's team in May 2005 had also claimed a even more outstanding achievment, where they claimed to have created 11 human embryonic stem cells using 185 eggs, and once again was published in the June 17, 2005 issue of Science. Also it was viewed at as a “breakthrough” in biotechnology because the cells were from patients who all had a different age and also had different genders, as with the stem cell of 2004 was only created with eggs and somatic cells from a single female person. Immune reactions would be extinct because each patient could receive a custom treatment.

Hwang also criticized former President George W. Bush for his policies on stem cell research and was also named in Time magazine as one of the “People Who Mattered 2004” and claimed Hwang “has already proved that human cloning is no longer science fiction, but a fact of life.” Hwang also cloned a dog, an Afghan Hound which is named Snuppy and has been verified through genetic testing. After his 2005 work, Hwang was named to lead the new “World Stem Cell Hub.” One of Hwang's colleagues Gerald Schatten decided to end his working relationship with Hwang because of the egg donations that went on during Hwang's research in 2004. Roh Sung-il who is one of Hwang's close colleagues and the head of the MizMedi Women's Hospital. Roh conducted a news conference where he admitted to paying multiple women up to $1,400 each for their egg donations, and these eggs were later used in Hwang's research, which Roh said the Hwang had no idea that Roh paid women for donating their eggs. “PD Su-cheop” which is a investigative reporting show brought up a possible code of conduct that was unethical in acquiring the egg cells from the women. The facts were accurate of the report but supports of Hwang said the criticicism of his work was unpatriotic and companies even withdrew their support for the show. In Seoul on November 24 a press conference where
Hwang said he was intending to step down from most of his posts that were official, where he officially
apologized and said that he “was blinded by work and my drive for achievment.” Hwang also said he was not honest about the way the eggs were received was to protect the donors and he was not aware that it violated ethical guidelines.
In November 2005, Hwang would become the suspect of scientific misconduct, as the result of his 2005 research was much more efficient then he and his team had hoped for. His creditibility as a scientists and researcher was put on a brink when the “PD Su-Cheop” had decided to go ahead with a report which would in fact question Hwangs results that were published in June 2005 in Science, where it said that he cloned 11 lines of embryonic stem cells. Many South Koreans were appalled at such a claim, and when Kim Sun-Jong, who was one of Hwang's colleagues from MizMedi was persuaded(illegally) to testify against Hwang. The broadcast was canclled and a national apology was made and then multiple mass-media organizations also began to inquire about Hwangs so called “claim to fame.” Also photos supposedly different cells, were actually the same cell, which Hwang said that the photos were not meant to be included in the submission that he and his team submitted and Science confirmed that there was no dublication in the submission. Science removed Gerald Schatten's name from the paper for the reason that “someone involved with the experiments that certain elmets of the report maybe be fabricated”.

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