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Microgen President Seo Jeong-sun said Thursday that the fact that the result of Korean research was published in Nature has significant meaning because it proves that Korea's technology for gene analysis is among the world's best. Microgen is a bio-engineering company that succeeded in creating a "mouse without a father" with a team of Japanese scientists led by Prof. Kono of Tokyo University of Agriculture.
In the research, Microgen contributed to gene analysis by developing a DNA chip, which enables the team to analyze 10,000 genes of the "mouse without a father" and compare them with genes of a normal mouse. Seo said that Microgen's technology study held the secret of how parents hand down genes to their children. An example of it is imprinting, a phenomenon where the phenotype expressed by a gene varies depending on its parental origin.
Seo, a prominent bio-engineering entreprenuer, has made great achievements in bio-engineering -- including the creation of a mouse causing congenital immunodeficiency -- as a medical professor of Seoul National University since 1983. In 1997 he established Microgen, a DNA chip manufacturer, and has devoted himself to gene analysis since then.
The company has carried out joint research with Prof. Kono team since 2000. "The mouse cloning technology of Prof. Kono and our gene analysis technology produce win-win effects. I'm pleased that the excellence of our DNA chip is proved. Based on that achievement, we will try to develop a DNA chip that can precisely analyze human genes and enter the world's rapidly growing DNA chip market as soon as possible," said Seo.
(Baek Sung-jae, whitesj@chosun.com )
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