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Princeton Chief Praises Medical Prospects of Stem Cell Research Updated Nov.3,2004 14:40 KST Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman was in Seoul for a three-day visit this week. On Tuesday, her second day here in Korea, the first woman and scientist to serve as president in the university's 258-year history met with scholars and scientists, exchanging ideas on a variety of issues including education and science. Changing the culture at universities is one way to encourage more female scholars to go out and make a difference in the world. Speaking to reporters at Korea's Seoul National University on Tuesday, Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman said making the university family-friendly for both women and men was important. "So that it is possible to imagine as I did to have children and to have a successful career in the universities as well. That means caring about daycare, caring about giving women who need to take time off when they have children gave that not be a disadvantage. So it's changing the culture." Regarding stem cell research, Ms. Tilghman -- also a genetic scientist -- said she believes that there is great therapeutic potential for human embryonic stem cells to treat debilitating diseases like Parkinson's disease and juvenile diabetes. When asked about the concerns that therapeutic cloning that involves producing cloned embryos to create stem cells could ultimately lead to human cloning, she said she believed strict regulations can prevent the worst from happening. "In my opinion, there is almost no scientific technology that I can think of that cannot be used to do harm. Just none. If you think about microbiology, well, microbiology is a technology that can be used to create a bio weapon. The atomic bomb. Terrible, terrible use for terrible purposes. On the other hand, it's been used to create an energy source to replace coal and oil. So there is nothing unique about nuclear transplantation. It is a technology that can both be used for good and ill. I think our society has been effective in developing regulations that can reduce to a very very low level the likelihood that it will be used for the wrong purpose." Later on Ms. Tilghman also met with Korean scientist professor Hwang Woo-suk, who successfully cloned a human embryo and extracted a stem cell line from it earlier this year. She congratulated professor Hwang on his achievement and said speaking as a private scientist she supported his research that may one day contribute in generating treatment for incurable diseases. Arirang TV SOURCE: Chosun Ilbo, South Korea http://tinyurl.com/5vjtm * * * Murray Charters <[log in to unmask]> Please place this address in your address book Please purge all others Web site: Parkinsons Resources on the WWWeb http://www.geocities.com/murraycharters ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn