Inside the dog mirror factory in Korea

Cloning dogs is just the beginning of complex science and always accepts mixed reactions from this community.

Learn about dog replication factories in Korea

Every Friday, Junichi Fukuda leaves his office in Tokyo to catch a flight to Seoul and then to a Sooam Biotech biotechnology testing center on the edge of the city. Here, he picked up a black pug dog named Momotan and took him to an apartment he rented nearby. He spent the weekends playing with Momotan. On Monday morning, he returned Momotan to the testing center and returned to Japan to continue his work.

Momotan is actually a cloned dog, the perfect copy of Momoko, the puppy that Fukuda adopted earlier. Momoko has been with Fukuda for 16 years, so it is very important to Fukuda. He is willing to work with Sooam Biotech and spend a lot of money to bring her back.

Sooam Biotech is not the leader in the dog duplication industry, but it has made many fundamental advances in genetics. The knowledge gained from the genetic modification of dogs can pave the way for human medical advances, revitalize species that are already great and more .

Inside the mirror factory

Sooam Biotech claims to be able to clone any dog, regardless of their lifespan and species. One of the three cloned embryos will develop into a healthy dog. So far, Sooam has cloned more than 600 dogs. At Sooam's factory, there are always 40 to 50 cloned dogs being cared for.

Every year, Sooam's sales amount to millions of dollars. This experimental center has been active for many years. In 2009, Sooam cloned Trakr, a German rescue dog. This dog found the last survivor in the 9/11 disaster. Recently, Sooam also succeeded in cloning a dog belonging to Seoul's SWAT force. This dog will soon be taken to the police station to continue the anti-crime mission.

How to duplicate dogs?

To clone a dog, you have to spend $ 100,000 and scientists have to collect the right type of cell they need.

It will be simpler if your dog is alive. In this case, you just need to take the dog to the veterinarian for a biopsy, the 8mm skin length of the abdomen , then send this form to Sooam. If the dog is dead, you need to send Sooam as many skin samples as possible. If it is not possible to get a skin sample right away, you must preserve the dog's corpse in the condition of a wet towel and put it in the refrigerator, but this preservation method is only effective for 5 days.

When the samples biopsy to Sooam's hands, the scientists will implement somatic cell nuclear transfer . Somatic cells are any non-reproductive cells like eggs or sperm. Scientists will disinfect samples, isolate the cells they want and put them into the environment they can grow. One to two weeks later they had the cells needed for the replication process.

A dog on the operating table.

The next part is the most controversial part, Sooam uses a pair of dogs taken from the experimental animal supply unit. Sooam will take eggs from a dog and another dog will conceive the egg. These dogs were only used once by Sooam and then returned to the experimental dog rental unit.

Past and future of cloning

Dr. Woosuk Hwang, head of Sooam, was first known by the press in 1999 when his team at Seoul National University successfully cloned two cows. He pledged that the next animal he cloned would be a tiger, a native Korean animal but had completely disappeared from the country during Japan's rule.

In February 2004, Hwang reported in Science magazine that his team successfully extracted stem cells from cloned human embryos. This is a marvelous finding because stem cells can develop into any cell in the body thereby opening up the ability to treat Alzheimer's patients or restore mobility to seizures. Spinal cord injury.

In May 2005, Hwang announced that his stem cell research was prepared for clinical trials. In August 2005, Hwang's group successfully cloned the first dog. With great successes, Hwang was dubbed 'the King of Clones' and 'Pride of Korea'.

But in late 2005 everything collapsed.

In November 2005, the Korean television program '60 Minutes' accused Hwang of violating morality and counterfeiting research results.

Hwang announced his resignation at Seoul University.

Things get worse when former colleagues stop supporting and anonymous bloggers claim Hwang's work results are only Photoshop results. Under pressure, Hwang announced his resignation.

However, Hwang still receives a lot of support. More than 700 Korean women have registered to donate eggs for his research. In 2006, during the crisis, Hwang founded Sooam with support from private donors. About 20 of his former colleagues from Seoul University also followed him to Sooam. Hwang also attracts many leading geneticists from Sooam's worldwide laboratories.

In 2009, Hwang was found guilty of "making data, taking advantage of human egg research and illegal trading" and suffered two years in prison and suspended sentences. Currently, many scientists still refuse to forgive Hwang.

Despite this, Hwang continued to study.

Ignoring it all, Hwang continued his research. Although Sooam is famous and earns money from cloning dogs, his lab is continuing to study genetics in many areas. So far, Sooam has published 47 scientific reports in international journals.

Hwang is even more ambitious

In 2011, he unveiled 8 new cloned dogs belonging to North American wolves. This success proved that transferring the nucleus of cell nuclei is not limited to animals of the same species. Sooam can create a humanized version of rare dogs by bringing their genetic material into a common dog's egg with techniques similar to what Sooam did with dog Momotan and 600 other dogs. .

Lycaon pointed ear wolf.

Sooam was able to master the technology and claimed to be able to use it to restore rare dogs like Ethiopian wolves, American red wolves and Lycaon wolves. Currently there are only about 6,000 Lycaon pointed ear wolves in the world. Sooam tried to clone them by transplanting their genetic material into other species but not yet successful.

Animal cloning can also be applied to commerce and agriculture. Sooam affirmed the commercial potential of cloning huge animals. Foot and mouth disease in 2010 slaughtered Korean cattle when more than 500,000 animals were destroyed. Therefore, the local government had to sponsor Sooam to use the cloning technology to restore Korean Hanwoo cows. Korea's Hanwoo breed has an important position similar to Japan's Kobe beef.

The mammoth specimens Sooam collected.

Hwang even thinks about medical applications. Sooam is looking for ways to transform the cow's genes so that they produce the erythropoietin hormone in their milk. Erythropoietin stimulates the production of red blood cells, which are used to treat anemia and other blood diseases. If successful, erythropoietin can be isolated from milk, without any strenuous cost of hormone synthesis.

Sooam is also conducting research on reviving mammoths, extinct animals from 3,600 years ago. Sooam is actively looking for the best biopsy model possible from mammoth specimens that lie in the ice of Siberia.

Sooam will go down in history if he revives mammoths and other extinct animals, Woosuk Hwang will once again become a hero.

Cloning dogs is just the beginning .