First cloned dog set to produce offspring: researchers
SEOUL (AFP) — The world's first cloned dog will become a father next month in the first breeding of cloned canines, South Korean researchers said Friday.
Snuppy, the cloned Afghan hound, successfully impregnated two cloned bitches of the same breed through artificial insemination, the Seoul National University researchers said.
Ultrasonic tests showed the foetuses were all healthy and they are expected to be born between May 16 and 20.
If the births take place, it will mark the first time that cloned dogs have reproduced successfully, Professor Lee Byung-Chun was quoted as saying by the Korea Times.
"The second generation of cloned animals used to be malformed but we have not found any abnormal aspects about the foetuses so far," he said.
Other newspapers carried similar reports.
The press interviews sparked an angry reaction from university authorities.
"This is a breach of school regulations against releasing experiment results to the press before completing relevant academic papers," Kook Yang, the research department head, told journalists.
The university will discipline Lee, he said.
Seoul National University has banned researchers from releasing study results to the press before publishing academic papers since Hwang Woo-Suk, a disgraced cloning expert, was caught faking research into stem cells.
Professor Lee, a former colleague of Hwang, has led his own research team since Hwang was indicted in 2006 for fraud, embezzlement, ethical breaches and other charges. Hwang, once hailed as a national hero, is now on trial.
The government has banned Hwang from research using human eggs after his claims that he created the first human stem cells through cloning were ruled in January 2006 to be bogus.
