South Korea's World Stem Sell Hub shut down

The World Stem Cell Hub in South Korea, which once offered a light of hope to incurably sick patients based on the now-discredited work by disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk, has been formally shut down.

The hub was transformed in March into a research center that studies adult stem cells, which are unrelated to cloning, and other developing medical technologies for clinical use, said Pi Ji-young, an official at Seoul National University Hospital that runs the centre.

The Seoul-based stem cell hub was launched in October as an international project aimed at finding cures for hard-to-treat diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease or damaged spinal cords, based on Hwang’s purported cloning breakthroughs.