webfact Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Chinese scientists break key barrier by cloning monkeys By Ben Hirschler Zhong Zhong, a cloned long tailed macaque monkey is seen at the Non-Primate facility at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, China January 10, 2018. Picture taken January 10, 2018. Qiang Sun and Mu-ming Poo, Chinese Academy of Sciences handout from Cell/ via REUTERS LONDON (Reuters) - Chinese scientists have cloned monkeys using the same technique that produced Dolly the sheep two decades ago, breaking a technical barrier that could open the door to copying humans. Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, two identical long-tailed macaques, were born eight and six weeks ago, making them the first primates -- the order of mammals that includes monkeys, apes and humans -- to be cloned from a non-embryonic cell. It was achieved through a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which involves transferring the nucleus of a cell, which includes its DNA, into an egg which has had its nucleus removed. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai said their work should be a boon to medical research by making it possible to study diseases in populations of genetically uniform monkeys. But it also brings the feasibility of cloning to the doorstep of our own species. "Humans are primates. So (for) the cloning of primate species, including humans, the technical barrier is now broken," Muming Poo, who helped supervise the programme at the institute, told reporters in a conference call. "The reason ... we broke this barrier is to produce animal models that are useful for medicine, for human health. There is no intention to apply this method to humans." Genetically identical animals are useful in research because confounding factors caused by genetic variability in non-cloned animals can complicate experiments. They could be used to test new drugs for a range of diseases before clinical use. The two newborns are now being bottle fed and are growing normally. The researchers said they expect more macaque clones to be born over the coming months. Since Dolly - cloning's poster child - was born in Scotland in 1996, scientists have successfully used SCNT to clone more than 20 other species, including cows, pigs, dogs, rabbits, rats and mice. Similar work in primates, however, had always failed, leading some experts to wonder if primates were resistant. The new research, published on Wednesday in the journal Cell, shows that is not the case. The Chinese team succeeded, after many attempts, by using modulators to switch on or off certain genes that were inhibiting embryo development. Even so, their success rate was extremely low and the technique worked only when nuclei were transferred from foetal cells, rather than adult ones, as was the case with Dolly. In all, it took 127 eggs to produce two live macaque births. "It remains a very inefficient and hazardous procedure," said Robin Lovell-Badge, a cloning expert at the Francis Crick Institute in London, who was not involved in the Chinese work. "The work in this paper is not a stepping-stone to establishing methods for obtaining live born human clones. This clearly remains a very foolish thing to attempt." The research underscores China's increasingly important role at the cutting-edge of biosciences, where its scientists have at times pushed ethical boundaries. Three years ago, for example, researchers at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou caused a furore when they reported carrying out the first experiment to edit the DNA of human embryos, although similar work has now been done in the United States. Scientists at the Shanghai institute said they followed international guidelines for animal research set by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, but called for a debate on what should or should not be acceptable practice in primate cloning. (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Peter Graff) -- © Copyright Reuters 2018-01-25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomerangutang Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai said their work should be a boon to medical research could be re-written as. . . . . . Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai said their work should be a baboon to medical research Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckamuck Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Anyone have any doubts that human clones will be made regardless of legality or ethical considerations. Brave new world coming up, pass me the soma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezzra Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Cloning a monkey? like there's a shortage of monkeys both the tree singing kind and the more human like ones... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEVUP Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 It's a lead up to the Chinese world evolution Their half way through putting in the worlds infrastructure so by the time they complete that they should have this just about down pack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomerangutang Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Next, the Chinese can take a hair follicle of Chairman Mao and clone him, ....complete with his VD which he passed on to countless young teen Chinese girls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kotsak Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Next step, cloning humans on demand for organ harvesting.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckamuck Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 3 minutes ago, kotsak said: Next step, cloning humans on demand for organ harvesting.. The scenario will be some billionaire with failing kidneys getting himself cloned so he give himself a transplant, or some other similar circumstance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kotsak Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 2 minutes ago, canuckamuck said: The scenario will be some billionaire with failing kidneys getting himself cloned so he give himself a transplant, or some other similar circumstance. This scenario has been already made into a movie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
car720 Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 3 hours ago, canuckamuck said: Anyone have any doubts that human clones will be made regardless of legality or ethical considerations. Brave new world coming up, pass me the soma. gives a whole new slant to the old doggerel that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckamuck Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 (edited) 59 minutes ago, kotsak said: This scenario has been already made into a movie More than one I think. But completely plausible if not inevitable. Edited January 25, 2018 by canuckamuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morch Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darcula Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Nothing to worry about, until those monkeys start cloning Chinese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell17au Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 or someone starts cloning some of the TV members. Oh my god the thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomerangutang Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 7 hours ago, kotsak said: Next step, cloning humans on demand for organ harvesting.. Larry Niven, the great sci-fi writer, developed that concept with lots of detail in the 1970's. He calls them 'corpsicles' (think: popsicles). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenslegs Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 11 hours ago, kotsak said: Next step, cloning humans on demand for organ harvesting.. Just a guess of course, but I think that cloning of individual organs will become possible without the need to clone a whole human being. Presumably, a cloned organ would not be rejected by the host body, thus vastly improving the health and welfare of the recipient. Won't affect me as the first recipients of those organs will be the super-rich. Maybe my great-great grandchildren will benefit. I don't think we should fear these developments. I imagine that there was quite a resistance to Edward Jenner's idea (200+ years ago) of inoculating people with the cow pox virus in order to prevent smallpox (which AFAIK has now been eradicated worldwide). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffian Dick Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Other nations have held back from this technology because of ethical concerns. The Chinese will tout it as scientific superiority of course. If someone can, someone eventually will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balo Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 I want to clone myself and then transfer my brain into my new younger body , so I can always have a young body , is it possible in lets say 100 years from now ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeptic7 Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Cool...just as long as they don't clone that Orange Orangutan in The White House! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 12 hours ago, chickenslegs said: Just a guess of course, but I think that cloning of individual organs will become possible without the need to clone a whole human being. Presumably, a cloned organ would not be rejected by the host body, thus vastly improving the health and welfare of the recipient. However human body is pretty good container for carrying and keeping the organs safe. Movie time: The Island (2005) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaibeachlovers Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 On 1/25/2018 at 10:04 AM, canuckamuck said: Anyone have any doubts that human clones will be made regardless of legality or ethical considerations. Brave new world coming up, pass me the soma. Yes. The 1% will be queueing up to have themselves cloned to provide parts for when they need them. I saw a very emotional film about that a while ago, as clones even though functioning people were slowly harvested for their parts, because, clones aren't actually real people and don't have "rights". When it happens, cats will have more "rights" than clones. The ultimate of course is to have a young clone body to transfer their mind into so they can live forever. NB I said transfer their mind and NOT their brain. Mind is only electrical impulses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 28 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said: The ultimate of course is to have a young clone body to transfer their mind into so they can live forever. NB I said transfer their mind and NOT their brain. Mind is only electrical impulses. Body is pretty useless and too fragile machine after we learn how to transfer our minds to electronic form, which will allow us to live until the end of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaibeachlovers Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 2 minutes ago, oilinki said: Body is pretty useless and too fragile machine after we learn how to transfer our minds to electronic form, which will allow us to live until the end of time. Books in the Dune franchise deal with that. Not a nice prospect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balo Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Yes looking forward to it. If your mind can live forever I will not get bored. And if you really wanna end it after 1000 years , just ask someone to pull out the plug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckamuck Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 4 minutes ago, balo said: Yes looking forward to it. If your mind can live forever I will not get bored. And if you really wanna end it after 1000 years , just ask someone to pull out the plug. If your consciousness is on a thumb drive they can keep plugging you in all they want. And what about when they start to mess with your code? What you gonna do about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balo Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 7 hours ago, canuckamuck said: What you gonna do about it? If they keep me on a thumb drive I can plant a nasty virus so I will self destruct . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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