A global institute that will play a central role in stem cell research and education and the storage of stem cell lines has opened its first branch in the nation.

Seoul National University Hospital and the government on Wednesday launched the World Stem Cell Hub in a ceremony at the university.

Cloning pioneer and SNU professor Hwang Woo-suk, who will head the new institute, said the hub will advance research on finding cures for incurable diseases.

His research partner Ahn Gyu-ri will supervise the clinical test division, and the center will form networks with proposed hubs in the United States and Europe.

On hand at the ceremony were leading American stem cell researcher Gerald Schatten, the creator of the world's first cloned sheep Ian Wilmut, chief science officer Robert Goldstein of the U.S. Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Chairman Robert Klein of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine.