The Ministry of Health and Welfare and Seoul National University Hospital had pulled out all the stops to inaugurate the center at the hospital’s Clinical Medical Institute in Hyehwa-dong, with President Roh Moo-hyun, Science Minister Oh Myoung and the center’s instigator, cloning pioneer Prof. Hwang Woo-suk, attending.

President Roh Moo-hyun and first lady take part in the opening of the government-funded World Stem Cell Hub at Seoul National University Hospital on Wednesday.

The ministry said the WSCH would play a central role in developing new treatments using human embryonic stem cells, and would actively support domestic and overseas research on adult stem cells including cord blood and bone marrow.

The center is to form a network and conduct joint research projects with scientists in the U.S. and Europe, SNU Hospital added.

“The successful operation of the hub will help treat incurable diseases such as nerve disorders, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and glaucoma,” Hwang said, adding he also expected the WSCH to make a considerable contribution to the medical and biotech industries.

Leading international scientists listen to an address at the opening ceremony of the World Stem Cell Hub, a government-funded stem cell research center headed by Korea’s leading authority in the field, Seoul National University’s Dr. Hwang Woo-suk.

Some 300 globally renowned domestic and foreign biotech experts attended the opening, including Hwang’s close collaborator Gerald Schatten from the University of Pittsburgh, the creator of the world's first cloned sheep Ian Wilmut, Robert Goldstein of the U.S. Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Robert Klein of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine.

(englishnews@chosun.com )