goodbye Dolly

[MAC]

I had to try soooo hard not to make jokes about this:


Clone death a mystery
(http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5949162%255E1702,00.html)

Clone death a mystery
By Kim Arlington
February 07, 2003

AUSTRALIA'S first cloned sheep, Matilda, has died unexpectedly of unknown causes, the South Australian Research Institute (SARDI) has announced.

Executive Director Rob Lewis said an independent autopsy failed to identify what killed Matilda, who died at the Turretfield Research Centre, north of Adelaide, on the weekend.

Her body was found by staff on Sunday morning.

"On Saturday, when she was last inspected, she was remarkably healthy," Mr Lewis said today.

"The animal has been particularly sprightly and her death was very unexpected."

He said on-going observations of Matilda since she was born in April 2000 showed she was a healthy animal.

Scientists cloned Matilda using a technique similar to that used for the world's first cloned sheep, Dolly, in Scotland in 1996.

At the age of nine months, she gave birth to healthy triplets using a speed-breeding technique.

That was more than a year younger than most sheep, and her offspring have also gone on to successfully reproduce.

Mr Lewis said SARDI scientists were recognised internationally for their cloning expertise and had produced several other fit and healthy cloned sheep since Matilda.

He said Matilda's cloning was a breakthrough.

"That we could clone sheep highlighted the potential of the technology, particularly to livestock producers wanting to protect or rescue the genetic material of superior or elite animals," he said.

"Matilda has made her contribution to the program.

"She was the first of the cloned sheep, she was the one that provided the confidence to our science community that we could do this technology, she was the one that gave us standing internationally.

"The program continues and Matilda was a very important part of that."

Mr Lewis said SARDI was continuing to develop the cloning technology, which was also valuable for scientists studying how cells could be reprogrammed to function like seemingly unrelated cells.

AAP
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the "speed breeding" part was tough not to giggle at

but regardless another one bites the dust

so far most of these animals that have been reported have died mysteriously

its like trying to copy your moms recipe
you put in all the ingredients.....but its just not the same

[Koliedrus]

Time to break out the mint jelly.

[SimpleSimon]

Mint jelly? With mutton? Lamb I could go along with, but mutton is much too rank for mint jelly to help much. Mutton goes down well - about 90 minutes after imbibing a 12-pack of beer.

[simiantics]

She was the first of the cloned sheep, she was the one that provided the confidence to our science community that we could do this technology, she was the one that gave us standing internationally.


I'm not sure, but I think my mother said she could set up the required equipment for this process in our basement for a dollar amount running in the thousands. She never shoots her mouth off about this stuff, so even though she won't do it, I'll take her word for it (unless I misheard her).

At any rate, clones just can't seem to get a break. They just keep dying (wasn't it calves a month or two ago on this site?).

[Koliedrus]

Originally posted by Koliedrus
Time to break out the mint jelly keg.

I'll take it :)

[Koliedrus]

Looks like that keg ran dry. Time to break out another one (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=5&cid=578&u=/nm/20030214/ts_nm/science_dolly_dc).

LONDON (Reuters) - Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, died on Friday, her creators at Scotland's Roslin Institute said.

Veterinarians gave the world famous six-year-old sheep a lethal injection after they discovered signs of progressive lung disease.

The birth of Dolly in July 1996 made headlines around the world and sparked criticisms and fears that human cloning would not be far off.

"Dolly is dead. I can confirm that," a spokeswoman at the institute told Reuters.

Dr Harry Griffin, the head of the institute, said lung infections were common in older sheep.

"A full post-mortem is being conducted and we will report any significant findings," he said in a statement announcing her death.

At the time of Dolly's birth, Griffin defended the animal's creation and said the research could help to produce new treatments for many diseases.

Late last year Clonaid, a company founded by the Raelian movement that believes mankind was created by extraterrestrials, announced the birth of the first human clone. But scientists doubt the claim, which has never been verified with independent DNA tests.

Dolly was produced by taking the nucleus out of a cell from the mammary gland of an adult animal and fusing it, using an electrical current, into another sheep egg cell from which the nucleus had been transferred.

Dolly became a mother in April 1998 when she gave birth to her first lamb, a female called Bonnie.

[MAC]

Dolly the Cloned Sheep Put to Death (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8492-2003Feb14.html)

Dolly the sheep, the world's first mammal cloned from an adult, was euthanized after being diagnosed with progressive lung disease, her creators said Friday.

The decision to end the life of 6-year-old Dolly was made after a veterinary examination confirmed the lung disease, a statement from the Roslin Institute said.

Dr. Harry Griffin of the institute said Friday that sheep can live to 11 or 12 years and lung infections are common in older sheep, particularly those like which are kept indoors.

"A full post-mortem is being conducted and we will report any significant findings," Griffin said.

Dolly was born July 5, 1996 in a research compound of the Scottish institute, and she created an international sensation when the achievement was announced on Feb. 23, 1997.

Researchers had previously cloned sheep from fetal and embryonic cells, but until Dolly it was unknown whether an adult cell could reprogram itself to develop into a new being.

The Dolly breakthrough heightened speculation that human cloning inevitably would become possible.

Dolly, a Finn Dorset sheep named after the singer Dolly Parton, bred normally on two occasions with a Welsh mountain ram called David, first giving birth to Bonnie in April 1998 and then to three more lambs in 1999.

In 1999, scientists noticed that the cells in Dolly's body - cloned from a 6-year-old sheep - had started to show signs of wear more typical of an older animal.

Then in Jan. 2002, her creators announced she had developed arthritis at the relatively early age of 5 1/2 years, stirring debate over whether cloning procedures might be flawed.

Some geneticists said the finding provided evidence that researchers could not manufacture copies of animals without the original genetic blueprint eventually wearing out.

There are now hundreds of animal clones around the world, including cows, pigs, mice and goats, many of them appearing robust and healthy.

But many attempts to clone animals have ended in failure. Deformed fetuses have died in the womb with oversized organs, while others were born dead. Still others died days after being born, some twice as large as they should have been.

Dolly's body has been promised to the National Museum of Scotland and will eventually be put on display in Edinburgh, the Roslin Institute said.

------------------------

hmm....

This could be considered a great achievement.


Or this could be considered a great failure.


But if history has taugh tus anything, it should be that we, as humans will not stop until we get it right.

[Koliedrus]

Merge time.