Gyeonggi Province on Thursday held a ground-breaking ceremony for the Hwang Woo-suk Bio Organ Research Center in downtown Seoul.

Hundreds of government officials, scientists and business executives attended the event including Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu and Hwang's research team member Lee Byung-chun.

Hwang's team will use the center to study and produce gnotobiotic pigs for internal organ transplants for human patients.

When completed, the center is expected to create 50,000 new jobs in bioengineering.