SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said Wednesday he plans to open a world stem cell bank in South Korea by the end of the year to help speed up the quest to grow patients' own replacement tissues.
The bank would consolidate current stem cell lines in one place, where medical workers could identify the cells that match patients' immune systems and then treat their ailments, Hwang said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"We hope to open a world stem cell bank, as early as this year, in Korea," Hwang said. "We will start with what we have, offering them to those patients who sincerely want them for the right reasons."
Hwang said he was willing to eventually put the bank under the management of an international agency. "But it would mean that South Korea is taking the initiative in fighting human disease," Hwang said.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050601/D8AESJ7G0.html