Seoul National University professor Hwang Woo-suk, second from left, laughs as he embraces the world's first cloned puppy, named 'Snuppy,' at the university. His colleague Lee Byeong-chun, left, hugs the original dog, of which somatic cells were used to replicate Snuppy, and University of Pittsburgh professor Gerald Schatten, right, holds the surrogate dog that gave birth to Snuppy. The dog has joined a pantheon of cloned animals under the magic hands of Korean stem cell pioneer Hwang Woo-suk. Seoul National University (SNU) professor Hwang told a press conference on August 3 that his team cloned two Afghan Hounds early this year for the first time in the world. Of the two, one died. 'By replicating a dog, we have beaten down the last barrier in cloning domestic animals. We will be able to use cloned dogs as a model to research human diseases since dogs and humans share many physiological characteristics,' the 52-year-old Hwang said. Hwang named the survived clone Snuppy, a combination of SNU and puppy. The male Afghan Hound was born in April. DNA analysis of the puppy revealed it to be genetically identical to the donor dog, the three-year-old Afghan Hound named Tai. The achievement will be featured as a partial cover story in the illustrious peerreviewed journal, Nature. Thus far, almost all animals have been replicated. They include a sheep, calf, goat, mouse, pig, and cat. But until now, man's best friend, the dog, could not be cloned because of its unique reproductive system as its eggs are released from its ovaries earlier than in other species. 'Unlike many other mammals, the dog ovulates immature eggs, which become ripe later in its body. It was most difficult to obtain mature eggs inside the dog,' Hwang said. To break the barrier, which no other research group could do, Hwang's team directly collected mature eggs from dogs' oviducts, where the eggs grow. However, the technique is still very inefficient because as many as 1,095 eggs and 123 surrogate dogs were used to create just three pregnancies. One of the three was miscarried and among the two cloned baby Afghan Hounds who saw the light, one died of pneumonia a mere 22 days after its birth, and the other, Snuppy, survived. To create the world's first dog clone, Hwang's team used somatic cell nuclear transfer, merging somatic cells with enucleated eggs to produce clones. Scottish embryologist Dr. Ian Wilmut banked on the method to make the first cloned mammal, Dolly the Sheep, in 1997. Hwang further defined the technology to clone a human embryo and isolated a stem cell batch in 2003, catching scientists by surprise, who then believed making cloned human embryonic stem cells to be impossible. In May this year, he stunned the world once again by announcing his team cloned 11 stem cell lines, genetically matched to patients with critical diseases or disabilities. Hailing the breakthroughs, many scientists expect the medical feat to open the door to gene therapy, as transplanting developed stem cells back into patients with degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes may be possible. Mixed Responses In response to the notable medical feat of cloning dogs, researchers are sharply divided into two opposing camps. Some praise the work as an unprecedented miracle, which will help develop a new way to study therapeutic cloning and grapple with many genetic diseases. 'Because dog cloning is so challenging, the job has been touted as perfection in the technology of cloning mammals. We should take pride in that Koreans spearheaded the exploit,' opined Jinju (Chinju) National University professor Park Hee-sung, who created a goat clone in June for the first time in Korea. Suncheon National University professor Kong Ilkeun, who replicated six cats last year, concurs. 'Through advancing further dog cloning technologies, we will be able to replicate specific exceptional dogs for use in seeing-eye or rescue work,' Kong said. By contrast, Maria Biotech head Park Se-pill cautions the scientific community, saying that Hwang's success could backfire by awaking the diehard specter of human reproductive cloning. 'Many experts have believed if we wanted to be cloning humans it would be a lot easier than cloning dogs. Dogs are the hardest of all animals to clone,' Park said. He added that Hwang's team solved arguably the hardest riddle in cloning research--creating a dog clone--increasing the possibility of replicating primate species like humans and monkeys. Hwang's studies have been a constant source of ethical debate spanning science, politics and religion due to the likelihood that his research might end in the cloning of humans. However, Hwang has flatly downplayed any possibility of cloning humans, saying it is stupid to attempt to produce clones of monkeys or humans. 'Even if some rogue scientists attempt it (reproductive cloning research), we will not be able to produce a human clone for at least another century,' Hwang said. Park counters that Hwang's remarks are contradictory. 'It is nonsense that Hwang spearheads developing technologies that can be used to clone a human while claiming at the same time that the probability of reproductive human cloning is very low,' he contended. Although not as famous as Hwang, Park is one of the top embryologists in the world in the science of creating stem cell lines from frozen embryos. The 45-year-old isolated human stem cells from frozen embryos, which are typically left over from artificial insemination operations, for the third time in the world in 2000.