Ian Wilmut, one of the cloning pioneers whose work was instrumental in the creation of Dolly the sheep in 1996, has died aged 79. The University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, reported that Wilmut died this Sunday after a long Parkinson's disease.
Wilmut sparked a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team at Roslin Institute University, dedicated to animal health sciences, had cloned a lamb using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep. Initially known as 6LL3 in the academic paper describing the work, the sheep was later named Dolly, after singer Dolly Parton. Cloning the sheep was the first time scientists were able to make a mature adult cell behave like a cell from a newly fertilized embryo to create a genetically identical animal.
Although Dolly's creation was hailed as a revolution by some scientists, it disturbed many, with critics calling such experiments unethical. The year after its creation, 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 led other scientists to clone animals, including dogs, cats, horses, among others. It also raised questions about the possible cloning of humans and extinct species. In recent years, scientists have proposed bringing back the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius, in Latin) through a combination of gene editing and cloning.
Dolly's creation was part of a larger project by scientists to create genetically modified sheep that could produce therapeutic proteins in their milk. About six years after Dolly's birth, she was euthanized by scientists after developing an incurable lung tumor. Wilmut, a trained embryologist, then focused on using cloning techniques to produce stem cells that could be used in regenerative medicine. His work was fundamental to research that seeks to treat genetic and degenerative diseases by helping the body repair damaged tissues.
The Roslin Institute said Wilmut was knighted in 2008 and retired from the university in 2012. He subsequently researched Parkinson's disease after being diagnosed with the condition, they reported. "We are deeply saddened by the news of Sir Ian Wilmut's passing," Bruce Whitelaw, director of the institute, said in a statement on Monday. Whitelaw described Wilmut as a "titan" of science and said his work in creating Dolly transformed scientific thinking at the time. He stated that the legacy of Wilmut's work in cloning Dolly remains evident. "This advancement continues to fuel many of the advances that have been made in the field of regenerative medicine that we see today," he said.
Wilmut leaves behind his wife, three children and five grandchildren, the University of Edinburgh reported. As of now, no funeral arrangements have been announced.
