Dolly the Sheep's Legacy

[Shane Costello]

Much of the debate over reproductive cloning, of which Dolly was the most notable example, has been over the moral and ethical reprecussions if this technology is applied to humans. It should be remembered that there's some interesting stuff happening using transgenic animals.

The use of transgenic animals to produce desireable proteins is known as biopharming. One of the biotech companies at the forefront of the field is PPL Therapeutics, which is an off shoot of the Roslin Institute where Dolly was cloned. Another company, Genzyme Transgenics has developed transgenic goats to produce anti-clotting factors. IIRC another company in the Boston area is developing transgenic birds that will produce human protein in their eggs.

This is my favourite application of transgenic animals. Nexia Biotechnology in Quebec have developed a strain of Goats with the spider silk gene, resulting in spider silk being present in their milk. If they get the spinning of the transgenic silk right, then we'll have the strongest material known to man. Pretty cool, IMO.

What does everyone else think?

 

[Guest]

Nexia Biotechnology in Quebec have developed a strain of Goats with the spider silk gene, resulting in spider silk being present in their milk. If they get the spinning of the transgenic silk right, then we'll have the strongest material known to man. Pretty cool, IMO.

What does everyone else think?

"Tastes lousy, way too filling?"

Aren't some of our fundy members going to quip about the coming tragedy of goats falling from barn rafters when their threads break?

Yeah, I think its pretty cool. Just hope they don't confuse the goats at the goat cheese factory. "Hey, what's going on? I can't cut the wrapping off this cheese wheel?"

Cheers,

 

[Soapy Sam]

And just think of the poor sheep, getting stuck in the goatwebs.

 

[Shane Costello]

Originally posted by Bill Hoyt:

Aren't some of our fundy members going to quip about the coming tragedy of goats falling from barn rafters when their threads break?

The fundies are clearly unaware of the tragic loss of goat life due to the goats getting their beards caught in farmyard machinery. At least if they get caught in barn rafters someone will likely reach them in time, a luxury you don't get with combine harvesters.