China to Build World's Largest Animal Cloning Center

The world's largest animal cloning facility will be built in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) located in the northeast of China, local media reported Monday.

BEIJING (Sputnik) — The project, which could clone dogs, cows and horses, will include a laboratory, a cloning center, a gene bank, and a science and education exhibition center, plans to attract investment worth 200 million yuan ($30 million at the current exchange rate), the TEDA management committee said quoted by China Daily newspaper.

According to the publication, a district management committee recently signed an agreement with Yingke Boya Gene Technology (Tianjin) Ltd, a subsidiary of stem cell and biological medicine company Boyalife Group Ltd, the country's biotech leader.

Project realization terms remain unclear but the development of livestock breeding technologies by means of cloning is said to be one of the main purposes of the project, according to local media.

Yingke Boya Gene Technology (Tianjin) Ltd has experience in cloning dogs in a joint venture with Korea’s Sooam Biotech Research Foundation. According to China Daily, this venture is an animal cloning  pioneer, with 550 dogs for special airport security and customs tasks projected to be cloned by the end of 2015.