S. Korea to invest 90 mln USD in stem cell research

South Korea will invest some 100 billion won (90 million U.S. dollars) in stem cell research next year to boost what it sees as a "core new growth engine," President Lee Myung-bak said Monday. Stem cell research here has been put on the back burner since Hwang Woo-suk, the country's once-idolized cloning researcher, was found to have fabricated his research findings. "While we were faltering in our quest for stem cell research, other nations streamlined their regulations and aggressively expanded their investments in research," Lee said in his biweekly radio speech, referring to the Hwang debacle "a disappointing incident" that "caused inevitable damage to the entire stem-cell research community" in South Korea. The government will increase investment into stem cell research efforts and help turn the industry into a new key "growth engine" of the domestic economy following the IT industry, Lee said in the address to the public. The president also pledged to establish a "national stem cell bank" to "produce, preserve and supply" stem cells to researchers and establish a new system aimed at facilitating clinical and licensing procedures. The government will also rectify elements that "impede commercialization" of stem cell research, Lee added. The speech came after the president met with a group of stem cell research firms and government officials last week and vowed to increase budget for research and development efforts in the field.