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A new era for clone technology in Tianjin
Published on: 2016-05-18
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01Dr. Xu age 45 was born in Shanghai and in 1992 he travelled to Canada and obtained his Bachelor Degree in Honors in Biochemistry from the University of Saskatchewan, which is one of Canada’s western prairie provinces. Since then he has been very successful in the Bio Life Science sector.


Last year, Dr. Xu signed a deal to establish a commercial animal cloning center in Tianjin, edging the controversial science closer to mainstream acceptance. The plant is in the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA), a government-sponsored business development park. It will clone animals including sniffer and pet dogs, beef cattle and racehorses. Its main building is already under construction and due to be put into use soon.


Boyalife Genomics, a subsidiary of Boyalife Group, which focuses on stem cell and regenerative medicine, signed the agreement with the TEDA. With an investment of 200 million RMB (31 million US dollars), the center will be a joint project by Peking University's Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biomedicine, and the Republic of Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation. Dr. Xu hopes to produce 100,000 cattle embryos a year initially, eventually increasing to 1 million.


Boyalife Genomics (Tianjin) is adjacent to the Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biotechnology and Medicine. The TJAB is lead by Dr. Zhihe Rao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and former president of the Nankai University, one of the top ranked research universities in the nation. Boyalife Genomics has strong ongoing collaboration with TJAB in the field of biomedical researches.


Once the new plant in TEDA is fully operational, it will employ about 300 employees, all recruited locally. Dr. Xu feels strongly about choosing Tianjin for this next phase of Boyalife. Historically Tianjin has been the major port and economic center in northern China. However, since it is less than 200 km from the capital, for a long time, its economic development was under the shadow of Beijing. This changed with the establishment of TEDA and the city is regaining its historic Glory.


This new center will be the one of the world’s largest Cloning factories and has received a great deal of media coverage. As mentioned, Cloning is a controversial topic. Just as the public is uneasy about GMO Genetically Modified Organisms, introduce the subject of Cloning and people question how safe or ethical are the results that enter our food chain.


Aside from the direct operations with Korea, Dr. Xu has also expanded operation to California in the USA. Recently, Boyalife in Tianjin was visited by CASG Canada Asia Synergy Group, Chairman Doug Horner who was the former Vice Premier and Minister of Agriculture for the province of Alberta, Canada. The province that raises the majority of Canada’s beef cattle, in fact, Alberta has more cows than people and is considered to have the best tasting beef anywhere.


Obviously the future success of cloning to solve China’s taste for high quality beef needs to be seen but one cannot help to be impressed by the dedication and commitment that Dr. Xu has shown. The facility and expertise gathered in the new Tianjin facility will provide the scientific backbone of this initiative. This is another example of putting Tianjin in the forefront of new technology development.

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