Samuel H. Wood

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Samuel H. Wood is an American fertility specialist . He and 5 colleagues cloned human embryos from skin cells for the first time .

Education and early research

Wood graduated from Loma Linda University with a degree in Psychology in 1979. In 1980 he earned an MA in Psychology from the University of Richmond , 1985 the title of Doctor by earning him the title MD , 1986 a Doctor ( Ph.D. ) from the Medical College of Virginia and 1997 a Master of Business Administration (MBA) , from San Diego State University . Wood initially focused on DNA . While at the Medical College of Virginia, Wood researched the isolation of a DNA core matrix .

In his further career, Wood researched premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and the improvement in pregnancy rates with the use of donated eggs. While on a fellowship, Wood researched the usefulness of fluoxetine for patients with severe PMS. Wood and his research team found that taking fluoxetine during the luteal phase , the second phase of the menstrual cycle, relieved both physical and behavioral discomfort, and there were no side effects or other complications while taking it. They then investigated the effectiveness of the RU 486 abortion pill in treating PMS. The low dose of RU 486 worked like a placebo on subjects .

To expand his knowledge base in the area of infertility , Wood opened a private practice. He and his team analyzed data from fresh and frozen egg donations over a period of five years . It discovered a hitherto undiscovered uterine factor to consider in the case of recurrent miscarriages .

Clone

After the first published study on stem cell nuclear transfer , Wood did a lot of research on stem cells . During his research, he teamed up with Andrew French, an Australian specialist in somatic cell nuclear transfer, and biologist Alan Trounson. After conducting a study in mammals, the researchers concluded that the critical mammalian replica approach holds great promise for the practical application of human embryonic stem cell replication. The researchers moved away from the notion that research into embryonic stem cells would serve to produce human clones . According to Wood, the research should only serve to replicate human organs such as hearts or kidneys in the future.

In 2008, Wood's group created human embryos by using somatic cell nucleus transfer to insert the nuclei of skin cells into the enucleated women's egg cells . The five cloned embryos were later destroyed. Wood pointed out that they created the mature human embryos using adult skin cells to use a less controversial source than embryonic stem cells.

It is unclear whether the embryos created would have been able to develop further. Wood would have considered this unethical and illegal with reproductive cloning technology . The five cloned embryos created by the Stemagen Society in the La Jolla laboratory were later destroyed. The ethical concerns were then heightened.

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ^ French, AJ, et al. (2008). "Development of human cloned blastocysts following somatic cell nuclear transfer with adult fibroblasts." Stem Cells 26 (2): 485-493. doi: 10.1634 / stemcells.2007-0252
personal data
SURNAME Wood, Samuel H.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American scientist and fertility specialist
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century