You will have to re-teach her to bring slippers. But, perhaps, it will not be necessary to re-figure out her food preferences or adapt to her character. You can prolong her life almost to the end of your own, continuing to enjoy her presence. What is it about? Of course, about the replicated - instead of the dead - dog. About the clone
To start with the hot news: California-based BioArts International
announced the launch of the Best Friends Again program, as well as that on June 18, 2008, five cloning operations of domestic dogs will be put up for an open Internet auction (it will be held on the program's website).
The starting price of the first lot is $ 100,000, and the fifth and last (after the first four are sold out, in theory) - already $ 180,000. For this money (or rather for more money), the winners will be able to replicate their pet (even a deceased one, if only genetic material remains from it).
Of course, the new beast will not remember what its prototype did. And there is no need to talk about "transmigration of souls".
But even a dog that is a complete copy of the old one, at least from the point of view of genetics, for some extravagant millionaires may seem like a good buy and, in a sense, the return of a friend. And how this business might look like in ten to fifteen years (and to what it can come) - we have already seen in the science fiction film " The 6th Day"
).
And since we're talking about extravagant millionaires, it's time to move on to the people behind the project and its background.
The head of BioArts is already famous
Membrane readers Lou Hawthorne.
Previously, he was the CEO of Genetic Savings & Clone, which made a breakthrough in cat cloning, was the first to open a pet photocopying business, but closed in 2006 (you can read about its difficult history here
Promotional video:
and follow the links in this news).
The failure of Genetic Savings & Clone did not discourage the entrepreneur at all, and he continued to develop another ambitious project, which began long before the birth of the company itself and the cloned kittens.
Best Friends Again has its roots in the late 1990s, when Dolly the sheep appeared, the first creature to be cloned.
In 1998, inspired by this highly debated achievement of experts from the British Roslin Institute (Roslin Institute
), Hawthorne decided to clone his family's pet, Missy, the dog. The project was named the Missyplicity Project.
Although Missy died in 2002, her DNA was previously stored in a special bank, so that in subsequent years, scientists could make as many attempts to "resurrect" Mr. Hawthorne's shaggy friend.
Alas, many millions of dollars and several years of efforts of the geneticists involved in the case have not yielded results. During this time, Genetic Savings & Clone appeared and disappeared (apart from cats, it also dealt with Missy's "problem"), but the work did not stop.
One of the key figures in the Missyplicity project, as well as the lead scientist at Genetic Savings & Clone, was the Korean scientist Taeyoung Shin. Actually, he has not disappeared anywhere, but continues to work - already at BioArts. But Thayone was forced to connect "heavy artillery" to the solution of the mission of cloning Missy.
Last year, Schin introduced his patron, Hawthorne, to his own scientific advisor. And this is none other than the infamous
the Korean scientist Woo Suk Hwang, who cloned a dog for the first time in the world in 2005, received Snuppy.
Now he (Hwang, not Snappi, of course) is the head of the private research foundation Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, located near Seoul. Lou asked the disgraced geneticist to clone Missy. And Hwang, along with his lab staff and Shin, set to work. The dog's DNA went to Korea.
Here we must remember that Hwang was at one time caught in falsification
scientific research (and not on one point), for which he publicly apologized to the nation.
Here are just the laurels of the first scientist who managed to clone a dog, he deservedly wears. But before him, other specialists in a number of countries tried unsuccessfully to do this "trick".
And Hwang confirmed the class - already on December 5, 2007, Mira was born, who got her name from the kind dragon from Korean mythology. According to BioArts, an independent genetic analysis performed at the University of California Davis (UC Davis
), showed that Mira is an exact copy of Missy.
Moreover, Mira became the first cloned dog, created "according to the code" of a pet from any family, and not a copy of a dog from a laboratory. The mission was achievable, and the millionaire finally made his dream come true.
Hwang further showed that Missy's replication was not an accident: on February 15 and 19, 2008, two more clones of Mr. Lu's deceased dog were born - Chingu, in Korean - friend, and Sarang, which means love.
Do they look like a prototype? Similar. And not only outwardly.
One of Missy's hallmarks was her extremely soft fur. All three cloned puppies have the super-soft fur "you've ever felt on a dog." Some people compare it to mink fur. This particular form of resemblance is invisible to the eye, but obvious to the touch to anyone who has ever stroked the original - that is, Missy.
Lou also notes some similarities in the character of his new charges and the once deceased dog (intelligence and stubbornness), although this observation can be attributed to Hawthorne's addiction to his pets. But here's another funny moment: all three puppies love broccoli, as Missy loved this cabbage, according to the American company.
Mira now lives in Hawthorne's house, and Chhinu and Saran live in one of his family members. However, BioArts "calms" us down, they meet and play together several times a week.
BioArts believes that now, with the powerful scientific background that Hwang provides, she can successfully operate in the extraordinary marketplace she is shaping.
True, at one time Genetic Savings & Clone closed due to the almost complete lack of demand for expensive replication of deceased pets. But who knows, maybe the second run will be successful?
BioArts itself will handle the "client" part of the project, while Hwang and his Sooam Biotech will directly clone. By the way, BioArts received a license to use the technology of somatic cell nuclear transfer) developed at the Roslin Institute for cloning dogs, cats and endangered species.
Whether such a dog's "immortality" is better than simply buying a new puppy on the market - we suggest you decide.
Well, the first person who “returned” his beloved dog from the afterlife believes that the company will find clients.
But what are the whims of millionaires to us? The fact is that BioArts also intends to engage in a host of projects related to cloning, genome analysis and similar things, moreover, for research and medical purposes.
And all this, at least in part, will be paid by wealthy animal lovers, who turn to the only company in the world that has both the rights and know-how necessary to clone dogs.