Pitt biologist trying to patent human cloning process

A University of Pittsburgh researcher embroiled in an international cloning scandal is seeking to patent technology to create embryonic stem cells without crediting his now-estranged colleagues in South Korea, government documents show.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office is processing a application -- still active as of Friday -- filed on April 9, 2004, by reproductive biologist Gerald Schatten, who heads the university's Pittsburgh Development Center at Magee-Womens Research Institute in Oakland.

Schatten and two Pitt researchers listed as co-inventors -- Calvin Simerly and Christopher Navara -- state their methods would make human cloning "a practical procedure," according to the patent application. These methods also could be used to create embryonic stem cells with the potential to cure human diseases, the application states.

Embattled Korean researcher Hwang Woo-Suk claimed to have achieved these very same scientific milestones using similar techniques. The breakthrough -- now discredited -- was announced in a paper published in the journal Science in June 2005 and co-authored by Schatten.

With the financial support of the Magee-Womens Health Foundation, Schatten served in an advisory role to prepare...