Ian Wilmut, cloning pioneer and “father” of Dolly the sheep, dies

Ian Wilmut, the pioneer of cloning whose work was fundamental for the creation of the Dolly sheep in 1996, he died at the age of 79.

The University of Edinburgh in Scotland said Wilmut died Sunday after suffering from Parkinson’s for years.

Wilmut sparked a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team at the university’s Roslin Institute for Animal Biosciences had cloned a lamb using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep.

Initially named “6LL3″ in the academic paper describing the work, the sheep was renamed Dolly, after singer Dolly Parton. It was the first time that scientists were able to manipulate a mature cell to behave like a cell from a newly fertilized embryo and create a genetically identical animal.

While some scientists considered Dolly’s creation a revolution, it made many nervous and others called such experiments unethical.

The year after Dolly’s creation, then-US President Bill Clinton imposed a ban on the use of federal funds for human cloning, but stopped short of banning all cloning research.

Dolly’s creation prompted other scientists to clone animals, including dogs, cats, horses and bulls. Dolly also raised questions about the possible cloning of humans and extinct species. In recent years, scientists have proposed bringing back the woolly mammoth through gene editing and cloning.

The creation of Dolly It was part of a larger project by scientists to create genetically modified sheep that could produce therapeutic proteins in their milk. Approximately six years after Dolly’s birth, scientists euthanized her after finding an incurable lung tumor.

The Roslin Institute noted that Wilmut was knighted in 2008 and retired from the university in 2012. He later researched Parkinson’s disease after he was diagnosed with the condition, it said.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Sir Ian WilmutBruce Whitelaw, director of the institute, said in a statement on Monday. Whitelaw described Wilmut as a “titan” of science and said that his work in creating Dolly transformed scientific thinking in his era.

Source: AP