Source: CellNEWS

More about China:
Stem Cell Forum in China Demonstrate Cutting Edge Research
Focuses on new findings for iPS cells
Friday, 25 July 2008

Over 300 of China's top stem cell biologists and researchers from around the globe shared their latest results and held China's first ever symposium on advanced induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell research during the just concluded first annual 2008 China Stem Cell Technology Forum at the China Medical City complex in Taizhou, China.
Read the full article here.

China Seek Extended Collaboration on Stem Cells with EU
Wednesday, 26 January 2005 , 23:45 CET

According to Xinhua.net, an official of the Ministry of Science and Technology in China said on Monday this week, that China’s key basic research projects (from the National Basic Research Program) are now open to public bidding. This will allow research institutions in European Union member countries to join these programs, in accordance with a new Sino-EU science and technology co-operative treaty.


Read the complete report here:
China Seek Extended Collaboration on Stem Cells with EU – CellNEWS, 2005-01-26



L.
Ed.
CellNEWS
05-01-26

China Make Broad Progress in Stem Cell Research
Tuesday, 21 September 2004, 18:00 CET

While the United States discusses the existence of stem cell research, China takes a broad perspective on the issue. Their latest results were presented last week at a tree-day international stem cell symposium, the Third International Symposium of Stem Cells, held in Shenyang in the Northeast Chinese province of Liaoning, and organised by the China Medical University in Shenyang.


Read the whole report from the Third International Symposium of Stem Cells in Shenyang, China, here:
China Make Broad Progress in Stem Cell Research – CellNEWS, 2004-09-21



L.
Ed.
CellNEWS
04-09-21

China Detail Cloning Guidelines
Wednesday, 18 August 2004, 13:20 CET

Today Chinese media report that scientists from the Chinese National Human Genome Center in Shanghai have published a guideline on the cloning of human stem cells, also saying that they firmly oppose human cloning for reproductive purposes.

They formulated six principles in the guideline to prevent the cloning of human beings, citing that the project goes against scientific ethics, China Radio International was said to have reported Wednesday.

The guideline has been approved by the Shanghai municipal government and will be used to regulate the research on life sciences in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, related departments from the central government have issued an ethics guideline on human cloning based on the Shanghai standard, the first of its kind in China.

The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology set up two Chinese National Human Genome Centers (CHGC) during 1998, in Beijing and Shanghai respectively, to promote medical and genomic research in the country. A year later a third genome center, Beijing Genome Center (BGI)/Bioinformatics Center, run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was founded. All three centres have previously contributed to the Chinese 1% of the published human genome sequence.


Chinese Scientists Oppose Human Cloning – People's Daily, China, 2004-08-18
Chinese Scientists Oppose Human Cloning – Xinhua, China, 2004-08-18


L.
Ed.
CellNEWS
04-08-18

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Saturday, 20 March, 2004, 06:54 CET


China: An embryonic nation
Nature, UK - 03/11/2004

Liberal views on human-embryo technology make China ideal to become a world leader in this field. Xiangzhong Yang explores its potential.

Chinese Researchers Make Cloned hESC’s in Rabbit Eggs
Saturday, 16 August, 2003, 00:09 CET

A research group based in Shanghai, China, has succeeded to clone and isolate human ES cells using rabbit eggs as ‘carriers’.

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China and Stem Cell Research
Monday, 26 August, 2002, 16:35 CET

I have here collected a few articles about what is happening on the stem cell front in China. As you can see, the Chinese has an active and advanced program in stem cell research and regenerative medicine. However much is still in the dark, because many of the Chinese scientists and groups don’t publish so much in English-speaking Journals, it is obvious that China is one of the leading countries in this area of medicine.

As West contemplate on ethics, China proceeds with embryo cloning
Friday, 08 March 2002


China stem-cell research leaps ahead

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL described this week that scientists at the Xiangya Medical College claim to have cloned dozens of human embryos over the past two years for medical-research purposes. Moreover, say U.S. and Chinese scientists familiar with the field, there are at least three other teams in China doing embryo-cloning experiments.

Lu Guangxiu, the professor who leads the Xiangya team, said recently "We’re not that far behind [the West] anymore".

The Xiangya team’s assertion that it cloned a human embryo two years before the U.S. company, Advanced Cell Technology Inc., has yet to be verified by independent expert’s abroad. But Prof. Lu, a fertility specialist, published a paper in China in 2000 describing her cloning efforts and several Chinese and U.S. scientists who know of her work say her claims are credible.

Paul Berg, a Nobel laureate in chemistry at Stanford University predicts:

"We will either condemn them [the Chinese] as godless members of an evil empire, or we will say ‘Hey, wait a second, we can’t be left out of this race,’ ".

This revelation has already spurred an Australian company, Stem Cell Sciences (SCS) — a company based in Melbourne — to announce plans to create cloned human embryos as a source of stem cells for research. The work is likely to begin in the UK. This move follows the Chinese scientist's reported claims to have harvested human stem cells from embryos using a technique developed in Australia.

"We are delighted that the discoveries made here in Australia (in mice) appear to have been validated in the human system," said Peter Mountford, SCS chief executive.

He says that his company has secured the intellectual property rights to the technique from Monash University in Melbourne and the University of Melbourne.

This is how fast the development in China go right now!

08 March, 2002


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China 'has cloned 30 human embryos'
02-07-17


China stem-cell research leaps ahead

The Straits Times of Singapore yesterday reported that China has cloned more than 30 human embryos, which makes the country to have an abundant supply of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). It is known that at least five laboratories in China are engaged in embryonic stem cell research.

It has been said that they have been able to grow embryos to a 200-cell stage, large enough to easily harvest the ES cells.

One researcher was identified as Professor Lu Guangxiu of the Xiangya School of Medicine in southern China's Hunan province where she runs a fertility clinic. She and her research team is “partly funded by the revenue from her own clinic and partly by the state”, she told reporters.

She said the purpose of her work was only to develop a way of growing spare body parts from ESCs for use in extending human life.

“The re-creation of a human was furthest from her mind,” she said.

Professor Yang Xiangzhong, a biotechnologist at Connecticut University, US, knows some details of Prof. Lu's work. He said:

“She has embryos, money and the backing of the Chinese government.”

“These are credible people. I have encouraged them to publish in peer-review journals so that they receive credit and the world knows about their accomplishments.”

17 July, 2002


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Stem Cell Advances Likely Within A Year in China
02-08-06

China's scientific community grabbed international attention recently when Western media reported that it had already cloned more than 30 human embryos.

Now The Straits Times of Singapore report that China has cloned dozens more, if not hundreds, of human embryos. However, the Chinese scientist’s say the aim is to develop cloned human organs for transplant, not to produce cloned babies. But it could take 10 to 15 years before this aim could be achieved, said experts.

Professor Chen Xigu, a leading cloning scientist at the Zhongshan Medical University in Guangzhou, who has cloned 109 human embryos, said the vast majority of Chinese scientists would abstain from research into cloning human foetuses, even if it were legal. The cloning of humans is strictly prohibited under the Chinese law.

Prof. Chen compared the present situation with building a house to describe China's progress in ESC research: "We are just laying the foundation. Later, the frame of the house must be erected the plumbing and electrical wiring put in, and the walls put up. Finally, the house must be painted and decorated."

Scientists elsewhere have also cloned human embryos but none have survived as long as what is claimed about the Chinese ones. For example, the Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology made a similar attempt last fall but failed because its embryos were only able to divide into a few cells. But in China experts say that the embryos have grown beyond the 200-cell stage, or the blastocyst stage, large enough for the harvesting of embryonic stem cells (ESCs).

Professor Jerry Yang, head of the Transgenic Animal Facility at the University of Connecticut, acknowledged that there is a 'blossoming' of human embryonic cloning research across China. The research is mainly conducted at national and elite university laboratories, he said. He also said that the Shanghai No 2 Medical University and the Xiangya School of Medicine at South Central University in Changsha, Hunan province were the institutes, which have made much progress in the field.

"Stem cell differentiation will require a lot of international co-operation. It is at least five to 10 years away," said Prof. Yang.

No Chinese scientist has yet been able to harvest any embryonic stem cell line(s), said Professor Dou Zhongying, director of the Shanxi Province Stem Cell Engineering Research Centre. But scientists around China are expecting major breakthroughs in forming ESC lines within a year or two, said Prof. Dou.

06 August, 2002

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Intense Lobbying of Stem Cell Research and Tissue Regeneration in China
Tuesday, 20 August 2002

A Chinese scientist has caused controversy over the weekend in Beijing scientific community, by predicting that he will be able to regenerate all human tissues and organs within 5 years. However, one thing is clear, that stem cell research and regenerative medicine is expanding and intense at several institutes in China.

Tissue regeneration debate continues to grow
08/20/2002, Chinadaily,
Famous Chinese scientist Xu Rongxiang has sparkled hot debate among colleagues with his announcement on Saturday that he will be able to regenerate and replicate any tissue or organ in the human body within five years.

20 August, 2002

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L.
Ed.
CellNEWS
Monday, 26 August 2002


References
China stem-cell research leaps ahead
March 6 2002, From: The Wall Street Journal and MSNBC
Local scientists to clone embryos
March 8 2002, The Age
Chinese 'first' in world race on cloning
New technique's reported success underlines ban problems
Thursday March 7, 2002, The Guardian
Dozens of human embryos cloned in China
Thursday March 7, New Scientist
China 'has cloned 30 human embryos'
July 16, 2002 Tue, The Straits Times
Stem Cell Advances Likely Within A Year in China
Tuesday, 06 August 2002, The Straits Times
Tissue regeneration debate continues to grow
08/20/2002, Chinadaily

L.
Ed.
CellNEWS
06-11-07

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