By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
South Koreans have touted their sophistication in cloning technology, but it remains to be seen whether recent innovations in science would render their skills irrelevant.
Ian Wilmut, the Scottish gene scientist who created Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, made headlines last year when he declared he was abandoning cloning and switching to a new method that involves genetically modifying adult cells to behave like stem cells.
The alternative technology, pioneered by the likes of Kyoto University scientist Shinya Yamanaka, has allowed researchers to create stem cells from fragments of skin, thus removing the need to use human embryos.
Wilmut believes that the effective production of such artificially derived stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS), holds the key in the curing of serious medical conditions.
Although there are no significant achievements reported among Korean scientists yet in the field, Wilmut said he sees local interest growing.
``IPS technology opens new opportunities in the studying of inherited diseases and even in the rare type of illnesses companies might not be inclined to invest their efforts in … the technology should not be too expensive and the laboratories might be able to do the work themselves,'' said Wilmut in an interview with The Korea Times.
Wilmut is among a Scottish delegation of policymakers and biotech companies who are looking to court investors at the Bio Korea 2008 tradeshow in Osong, North Chungcheong Province.
Wilmut believes IPS technology will first have more of an impact on drug development and discovery than therapy as putting the cells into patients remains a great risk.
His team at Edinburgh University is currently collaborating with other scientists, including Christopher Shaw of London's King's College, in researching motor neuron diseases through IPS technology.
``If you have a person with an inherited disease in the family, you can take stem cells from them and produce IPS cells, which would be equivalent to cells when they were a baby,'' said Wilmut.
``This would allow us to improve the molecular understanding of the disease and eventually allow us the basic knowledge to enable cell screening. We are still a number of years away, but there is a great deal of confidence that we will get there,'' he said.
The trend in science has clearly moved forward, but cloning still remains the most popular topic in Korea. Getting much publicity is the brewing patent battle between Start Licensing, the Texas-based company that owns the rights for the technology developed by the cloning of Dolly, and Korean biotech company, RNL Bio, over the commercial rights of cloning dogs.
The papers are about to be filed, and officials close to the development have told The Korea Times that some of the world's leading scientists, possibly Wilmut, could be contributing in court. However, Wilmut said he hasn't been asked as of yet to assist the litigation.
Scotland has been growing as a destination for Korean investors in the past years, especially pharmaceutical firms looking to use Scottish talent for drug development and discovery.
According to Tony Baker, director of the life science division at Scottish Development International, $17 million worth of business deals have been signed between Korean and Scottish companies in just the past few years.
Many of the country's leading pharmaceutical companies have a presence in Scotland ― LG Life Science has a partnership with the Aberdeen University in developing drugs for Alzheimer's disease, and Chong Kun Dang, which is developing diabetes drugs with Scottish Biomedial. Interest is also growing among electronics firms like Samsung amid the trend of convergence between biotech and information technology.
``Korean pharmaceuticals, who have mostly relied on the production of generic drugs in the past, are now becoming engaged more in drug development and discovery, and this is where Scotland becomes an ideal target for collaboration,'' said Baker.