British biologist Ian Wilmut, “father” of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, died on Sunday at the age of 79, the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, where he worked, announced on Monday.
Wilmut’s team developed the pioneering technique that led to the birth of the sheep on July 5, 1996, and revolutionized the field of genetic cloning (asexual reproduction process that results in genetically identical copies of the same living being).
Subsequently, the embryology specialist focused on using cloning techniques to produce stem cells (cells that differentiate into other cells) that could be used in regenerative medicine.
His work was considered fundamental to research aimed at treating genetic and degenerative diseases by helping the body repair damaged tissue.
The scientist retired from academia in 2012 and in 2018 he made public that he suffered from Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative pathology that affects the coordination of movements.
Dolly the sheep, who lived until 2003 and was named after the American singer Dolly Parton, was generated from a cell from the mammary gland of a Finnish-Dorset sheep.
Its existence remained secret until early 1997 and was part of a larger scientific project to create genetically modified sheep that could produce therapeutic proteins in their milk.
“Dolly” had several offspring between 1998 and 2000 and had a “normal quality of life” until February 2003, when she was euthanized to spare her the suffering resulting from several tumors in her lungs.
The cloning method used with sheep was replicated with dogs in 2005, in South Korea, and in 2018 with monkeys in China.
Source: TSF
