British embryologist and head of the medical cell biology research team at the University of Edinburgh Sir Ian Wilmut has died at the age of 79. Wilmut had suffered from Parkinson’s disease for years. Even in old age he was available as an advisor to researchers in this field.
Wilmut was born on July 7, 1944 in Hampton Lucey, England. He wanted to become a farmer and initially studied agricultural sciences at the University of Nottingham.
Animal in the service of science
‘Dolly’ – named after country singer Dolly Parton – was the first exact copy of a mammal and was born on July 5, 1996. The lamb was cloned from an adult somatic cell of a female sheep; “Dolly” had no biological father. The animal spent its short life serving science: instead of being kept in a pasture, it was guarded in a building.
“Dolly” herself died early, at the age of six. She suffered from joint problems and lung disease. It is now stored in a display case in a museum in Edinburgh.
Source: Krone
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