A Chinese-American scientist is bringing his cutting-edge stem-cell research 'back home' to China, where costs are lower and there are fewer restrictions than in the US.
Dr Ma Yupo, a haematopathologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, will conduct his research on the mainland and hopes to perform experiments using monkeys next year and humans in 2013.
'There is more manpower and funding and fewer restrictions [in China] compared to the US,' Ma said. 'Also, I am Chinese, and I want to bring my research back home.'
Ma said his research used stem cells extracted from adults, a technique which would address any ethical concerns about using stem cells from fertilised embryos. He hoped to contribute to finding cures for diseases such as diabetes, leukaemia, lymphoma and HIV/Aids.
Ma trained at Harvard Medical School and MD Anderson Cancer Centre and has been working in the field for 10 years. He said his team had experimented successfully on mice.
His work caught the eye of China's so-called '1,000-elites programme', a project under the Central Committee responsible for headhunting top science talent - Chinese and non-Chinese - to help the country catch up in key fields.