WHAT:
Dr. Shin-Yong Moon, director, Korean Stem Cell Research Center, will discuss "Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Present and Future," in the Howard A. and Audrey M. Schneiderman Distinguished Lecture in Modern Biology at UC Irvine.

WHEN:
11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4, 2005 (10:30 a.m. reception)

WHERE:
Nelson Auditorium, Irvine Hall, UCI School of Medicine.
Campus map: www.uci.edu/campusmap

COST:
Free; reservations recommended

INFORMATION:
Greg Ruth at (949) 824-1693 or gruth@uci.edu

BACKGROUND:
Dr. Shin-Yong Moon is a pioneer in human stem cell research and one of the world's best-known scientists. Moon and his colleague Dr. Woo Suk Hwang first gained worldwide attention in 2004 for successfully producing genetically defined human embryonic stem cells using a scientific technique called nuclear transfer (or "therapeutic cloning").

This year, they used that technique to produce stem cells that were genetic matches of patients with certain disorders and illnesses. In addition to paving the way toward transplant therapies that overcome the problem of immune rejection, their work shows great potential to provide scientists with disease-specific cells that can accelerate research on puzzling diseases like Alzheimer's, cancer and autism. Their work also raises a number of important questions about how to pursue this tremendous scientific promise while protecting patients, research donors and society. In his Schneiderman Lecture, Moon will address these issues and take a look into the future of stem cell research here and around the world.