Samuel H. Wood

Samuel H. Wood is an American fertility specialist list. He is the first man who has cloned using its own skin cells themselves.

Training and early research

Wood graduated in Psychology at Loma Linda University from in 1979. In 1980 he obtained a M. A. in psychology at the University of Richmond, 1985 Occupation Doctor, by him the title of MD was awarded the 1986 Doctor ( Ph.D.) at the Medical College of Virginia in 1997 and a Master of Business Administration (MBA), at San Diego State University. Wood put his initial focus on the DNA. During the time at the Medical College of Virginia Wood research at the isolation of a DNA - nuclear matrix.

In his further career Wood researched Premenstrual syndrome (PMS ) and improving pregnancy rates with the use of donor eggs. While a scholarship Wood inquired about the usefulness of fluoxetine for patients with severe PMS. Wood and his research team found that are alleviated when taking fluoxetine during the luteal phase, the second phase of the menstrual cycle, both physical ailments, as well as behavior problems and while taking occurred no side effects or other complications. Then they examined the effectiveness of the abortion pill RU-486 in the treatment of PSM. The low dose of RU 486 acted as a placebo in healthy volunteers.

In order to expand its knowledge base in the field of infertility, Wood opened a private practice. He and his team analyzed over a period of five years data of fresh and frozen egg donation. It discovered a hitherto undiscovered uterine factor that must be considered in recurrent miscarriages.

Clone

After the first published study on the nuclear transfer of stem cells Wood was intensely occupied with stem cell research. During his research he joined forces with Andrew French, an Australian specialist in the somatic cell nuclear transfer, as well as with the biologist Alan Trounson, together. After the researchers conducted a study with mammals, they came to the conclusion that the ultimate approach for the simulation of mammals is promising for the practical application of the replication of human embryonic stem cells. The researchers took the idea that the research of embryonic stem cells to serve, to produce human clones, spacing. According to Wood, the research is only meant to replicate human organs such as the heart or kidneys in the future.

In 2008, Wood created embryo copies of himself by using his own skin cells into the egg of a woman. He was the first man who did it with skin cells. The five cloned embryos were destroyed later. Wood and Andrew French announced in January 2008 that they have successfully created the first five mature human embryos using DNA from adult skin cells, aiming to provide a less controversial source of viable embryonic stem cells. Wood and a colleague donated skin transferred the cells and the DNA from the cells into human oocytes.

It is not clear if the embryos produced would have been able to develop further. Wood would, however, this is seen with the technology of reproductive cloning to be unethical and illegal. The five cloned embryos that were created in the Stemagen society in the laboratory in La Jolla, were destroyed later. Ethical concerns were raised then.

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