By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
Scientists at Seoul National University are seeking to commercially clone dogs this year _ the world's first attempt to create canine clones for money.
Senior researcher Kim Min-kyu at the Seoul-based university is spearheading the efforts based on his team's expertise in cloning dogs.
``Early last month, we signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Customs Service to clone its drug-sniffing dogs,'' Kim said.
``We already obtained somatic cells of the expensive dogs. We will attempt to clone them in July or August to get puppies late this year at the earliest,'' he said.
Demand for drug and explosive sniffing dogs has outstripped supply after the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks in 2001, as countries focus on beefing up security, according to Kim. But he refused to elaborate the terms of the MOU.
Kim played a pivotal role in creating the world's first cloned dog, a male named Snuppy, in 2005 as well as three other female clones last year.
Still, no other scientists on the planet have succeeded in cloning a dog except Kim's team.
The feat was once underestimated because the country's disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk was related to the cloning project.
Hwang claimed to have harvested patient-specific stem cells, an invaluable breakthrough believed to be able to deal with many hard-to-cure diseases such as diabetes or Alzheimer's, in 2005. The stem cells were found later to be fakes based on fabricated data.
However, a set of intensive tests by both domestic and overseas experts confirmed the authenticity of Snuppy and other clones. Now, Kim works on cloning separately from Hwang.
``In the near future, we plan to establish an animal cloning center at Seoul National University to clone precious dogs such as guide dogs or drug-sniffing dogs,'' Kim said.
``We will study whether or not the traits of such special dogs are seen in their clones. We think it will reveal interesting results,'' he said.