#cloning.

On July 5th 1996 Dolly the sheep was born, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

When scientists working at the Roslin Institute in Scotland produced Dolly, she was only lamb born from 277 attempts,from those rom 277 cell fusions, 29 early embryos developed and were implanted into 13 surrogate mothers. But only one pregnancy went to full term, and the 6.6 kg Finn Dorset lamb 6LLS, that’s Dolly to you and I, was born after 148 days, they never announced her birth for six months until February 22nd 1997. She lived a pampered existence at the Roslin Institute. She mated and produced normal offspring in the normal way, showing that such cloned animals can reproduce.

Dolly the sheep was produced at the Roslin Institute as part of research into producing medicines in the milk of farm animals. Researchers have managed to transfer human genes that produce useful proteins into sheep and cows, so that they can produce, for instance, the blood clotting agent factor IX to treat haemophilia or alpha-1-antitrypsin to treat cystic fibrosis and other lung conditions.

This was a major news story around the world, Dolly even appeared on the cover of Time magazine!

On February 14th 2003 “Dolly”, the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized.

When scientists working at the Roslin Institute in Scotland produced Dolly, she was only lamb born from 277 attempts,  from those rom 277 cell fusions, 29 early embryos developed and were implanted into 13 surrogate mothers. But only one pregnancy went to full term, and the 6.6 kg Finn Dorset lamb 6LLS, that’s Dolly to you and I, was born after 148 days. She was born on 5 thJuly 1996 but they never announced her birth for six months.

Dolly lived a pampered existence at the Roslin Institute, not far where I grew up.  She mated and produced normal offspring in the normal way, showing that such cloned animals can reproduce.

Dolly the sheep was produced at Roslin  as part of research into producing medicines in the milk of farm animals. Researchers have managed to transfer human genes that produce useful proteins into sheep and cows, so that they can produce, for instance, the blood clotting agent factor IX to treat haemophilia or alpha-1-antitrypsin to treat cystic fibrosis and other lung conditions.

This  was a major news story around the world, Dolly even appeared on the cover of Time magazine, although I think they missed a trick and the headline should have been “Will There Ever Be Another Ewe” 

On February 14th 2003 Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized.

Three years earlier after the death of another cloned sheep, Dolly was tested for and diagnosed with sheep pulmonary adenomatosis , a lung disease that was spreading among other sheep at Roslin. Her second second litter of lambs was also diagnosed. Dolly bore six lambs in three litters in total, her first lamb was called Bonnie, as seen in the first photo together.

She remained healthy until Monday the 10th February 2003 when an animal care worker reported that he had noted Dolly coughing. Full veterinary examinations and blood tests were conducted but failed to establish a diagnosis. Further investigations were necessary a CT scan was carried out on Friday the 14th February 2003. The scan confirmed their worst fears, tumours were growing in Dolly's chest.

Since a general anaesthetic had been necessary to perform the CT scan it was decided that it would be best if Dolly did not regain consciousness and an overdose of an anaesthetic agent was administered to end her life.

Dolly was then stuffed and is on display at The National Museum of Scotland,  the first shows Dolly and Professor Ian Wilmut the leader of the research group at Roslin. Part of the research at Roslin with the cloning programme was centred on finding a cure for Parkinson's disease, in 2018 it was revealed he has been diagnosed with the condition himself.

You can read more on Professor Wilmut here

No revelations are taking place here.