Abstract
Recent news of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in Seoul has made headlines around the world. In 2004, Korea took the world by surprise when W. S. Hwang and his team published the isolation of hESCs from a cloned blastocyst [1]. One year later, the same Korean team published the establishment of 11 hESC lines, made from transplanting the nucleus of patients' skin cells into donated human oocytes [2]. But few in the Western science community are aware that hESC research has its root in Asia. Ariff Bongso and his associates at Singapore's National University Hospital in 1994 were the first to derive hESCs from a five-day-old discarded human embryo and discover that these cells were pluripotent and, henceforth, had therapeutic potentials as cell transplants [3]. Eight years later, they were able to substitute the use of mouse feeder layer cells with human cell feeders and human serum to grow hESCs, reducing the risk of introducing mouse and bovine pathogens [4] when hESCs are transplanted into patients.
Highlights
Recent news of human embryonic stem cell research in Seoul has made headlines around the world
The stem cell success in Korea comes out of a history in and growing investment in Asia–Pacific science that the West is slowly appreciating. It comes at a time when independent events in the United States are having an impact on clinical research and health care
The recent withdrawals of rofecoxib (Vioxx), methylphenidate (Ritalin), and a few other high-profile drugs from the market threatens the reputation of the pharmaceutical industry
Summary
Recent news of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in Seoul has made headlines around the world. Ariff Bongso and his associates at Singapore’s National University Hospital in 1994 were the first to derive hESCs from a five-day-old discarded human embryo and discover that these cells were pluripotent and, had therapeutic potentials as cell transplants [3]. The stem cell success in Korea comes out of a history in and growing investment in Asia–Pacific science that the West is slowly appreciating It comes at a time when independent events in the United States are having an impact on clinical research and health care. Medicine of the 21st-century is at a crossroad, with immense changes ahead that could change the face of the pharmaceutical and health-care industry With these changes, Asia is becoming a player in research. As I will discuss, it is the result of concentrated efforts to capitalize on its strengths and to form strategic partnerships
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