Miodrag Stojković (; born 5 July 1964) is a

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

researcher in genetics with the Institute of Human Genetics at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

. He holds a PhD from the

Ludwig-Maximilians University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke Ludwig IX of Bav ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. As of January 2006, he is serving as a deputy director and head of Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory, Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. According to

TIME Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

magazine, Stojković has attempted to create human embryos by injecting a patient's own DNA into an ovum with the genetic material removed. He hopes to harvest

stem cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

—which can develop into almost any organ—and coax them to produce insulin in diabetics. This research could lead to a cure for

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Parkinson's Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become more prevalen ...

and

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

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On the German TV show "Menschen bei Maischberger" (June 2006), he claimed that stem cell therapy would allow paraplegic patients to walk in three years.

Biography

Stojković earned his Veterinary Medicine Degree from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

, then in Yugoslavia, in 1990. He then moved to

for several years, where he gained his Veterinary Medicine Equivalency from LMU, worked there as a Post-Doctoral Fellow responsible for ''in vitro'' production of bovine embryos and later served as head of the IVF Laboratory for LMU's Dept. of Molecular Animal Breeding & Biotechnology. In January 2001, he co-founded the European College for Animal Reproduction (ECAR) and served as a scientific adviser to Therapeutic Human Polyclonals in

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

, USA and Agrobiogen GmbH in Laretzhausen, Germany. He returned to Munich and LMU the following year, where he headed the UVF Laboratory and served as senior research embryonologist and senior research associate. In 2003, he moved to England and

as a university reader in embryology and stem cell biology at the medical school's Institute of Human Genetics. In August 2004, he was granted the first licence to use nuclear transfer embryos to derive human embryonic stem cells in Europe, and in the following month, he became the deputy director of the Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics at the University of Newcastle. In 2005, he served as a visiting professor to the

University of Kragujevac The University of Kragujevac () is a public university in Kragujevac, Serbia. It is the oldest and the largest higher education institution in Šumadija and Western Serbia The Šumadija and Western Serbia () is one of the five statistical reg ...

in Serbia and Montenegro. Later in the year, he became chair in embryology and stem cell biology at the University of Newcastle, and in 2006, deputy director and head of the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory at the Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe in Valencia, Spain.

Awards

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

References

External links

David Cyranoski, "Human embryos cloned from adult cells" Nature, 1/17/2008

* ttp://www.daserste.de/maischberger/sendung_dyn~uid,br60w0km051y1b1h4dawpasy~cm.asp "Menschen bei Maischberger" ARD, 6/6/2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stojkovic, Miodrag Serbian geneticists Spanish geneticists Academics of Newcastle University University of Belgrade Faculty of Veterinary Medicine alumni People from Leskovac Living people 1964 births