Samuel H. Wood

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Samuel H. Wood
Alma mater
Medical College of Virginia (M.D., Ph.D.)
San Diego State University
(MBA)
Known forFirst man to clone himself

Samuel H. Wood is a scientist and fertility specialist. In 2008, he became the first man to clone himself, donating his own DNA via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to produce mature human embryos that were his clones.

Education and early research

Wood completed undergraduate studies in psychology at

Medical College of Virginia, and an MBA from San Diego State University (1997).[1]

Wood's early scholarship laid the foundation for his future scientific endeavors, beginning with an initial focus on

nuclei vs. DNased-digested nuclei) were differentiated along with their respective ability to retain elongation in response to increasing concentrations of salt.[3]

Wood then turned his attention to treating premenstrual syndrome (PMS) as well as improving pregnancy rates when using donated eggs. During a fellowship in

RU 486 (commonly referred to as "the abortion pill") in treating PMS but found symptoms experienced with administration of low-dose RU 486 to be virtually indistinguishable from subjects receiving a placebo.[5]

Upon opening a private practice, Wood continued to expand the knowledge base in the field of infertility. He and his team analyzed data over a 5-year period for both fresh and frozen egg donation cases with and without use of a gestational surrogate. They found a previously undiscovered "uterine factor" to consider when egg donation resulted in repeated pregnancy failure. Furthermore, they found successful implantation rates were significantly higher for surrogates in both fresh and frozen embryo transfers.[6] Additionally, surrogates showed a significantly higher pregnancy rate following frozen embryo transfers than their non-surrogate counterparts.

Cloning

Wood entered the arena of

human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line production. Furthermore, they specifically proposed hESC research should steer away from attempting to produce viable offspring, focusing efforts on the use of cloned embryos as a viable source for deriving stem cell lines instead.[8]

In 2008, Wood created

stem cells.[9] Dr. Wood and a colleague donated skin cells and the DNA from those cells was transferred into human eggs. It is not clear if the embryos produced would have been capable of further development, but Dr. Wood stated that if that were possible, using the technology for reproductive cloning would be both unethical and illegal. The five cloned embryos, created in Stemagen Corporation lab in La Jolla, were later destroyed.[12]

Wood and five other researchers published their findings in the online research journal Stem Cells in an article entitled Development of Human cloned Blastocyst Following Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) with Adult Fibroblasts.[9][13]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Wood bio". RSC. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  2. PMID 3711079
    .
  3. PMID 2597677
    .
  4. PMID 1495689
    .
  5. PMID 7970453
    .
  6. doi:10.1016/S0015-0282(03)01234-2
    .
  7. S2CID 220109270
    .
  8. S2CID 32122823
    .
  9. ^ a b c Somers, Terri (January 18, 2008). "Biotech Stemagen fused skin and egg to clone embryo". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Ricks, Delthia (January 18, 2008). "Scientists make human embryo clone". Newsday. Archived from the original on January 22, 2008. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  11. ^ a b "Stemagen First to Create Cloned Human Embryos From Adult Cells". Prinewswire: Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. January 17, 2008. Archived from the original on January 25, 2008.
  12. ^ a b Weiss, Rick (January 18, 2008). "Mature Human Embryos Created From Adult Skin Cells". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  13. doi:10.1634/stemcells.2007-0252

External links
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