Sir Ian Wilmut , the British scientist who precede the squad whichcloned Dolly the sheep , has fail , the University of Edinburgh in Scotland sustain in a statement on Monday . He was 79 age old .
Wilmut ’s official cause of demise has not been released but comes after his years - long illness with Parkinson ’s disease . Bruce Whitelaw , director of the Roslin Institute tell in thestatement : “ Ian was such a great embassador for Roslin . His reach was global . He take back in the eighties the team that produced Dolly from which so much has number to the Institute , the University of Edinburgh , and indeed to science in world-wide . We have turn a loss one of the well - make love science pioneers . ”
Dolly , assume in 1996 , was the first mammal in the world to be clone by an grownup somatic cell , with Wilmut top the team of scientist responsible for the revolutionary aesculapian breakthrough . The squad ’s find in stem cellular telephone research hail new possibilities for regenerative medicine .
Photo: AP News (AP)
A pioneer in inherited inquiry , Wilmut ’s release was further acknowledged by professor Sir Peter Mathieson , the principal and vice - chancellor of the University of Edinburgh . Mathieson called Wilmut a “ heavyweight of the scientific world , ” saying cloning Dolly the sheep “ transformed scientific thought at the time . ” He add : “ This breakthrough continue to fire many of the advances that have been made in the field of regenerative medicine that we see today . ”
After make Dolly , who was bring up after the country music artist Dolly Parton , Wilmut ’s cloning proficiency opened up possibilities for producing genetically qualify animate being that couldproduce therapeutic proteins in their Milk River . The discovery sparked worry and moral panic over the possibility of human cloning , move then - U.S. President Bill Clinton topropose a banon human cloning .
“ [ The technology ] has the potential to threaten the hallowed kinsfolk bonds at the very effect of our nonesuch and our high society , ” Clinton said at the time , agree to a 1997New York Times clause . “ At its speculative , it could lead to misguided and malevolent attempts to choose certain traits , even to make certain kinds of children , to make our kid object rather than cherished individuals , ’’ he added .
Wilmut was knighted in 2008 and retired from the University of Edinburgh in 2012 . In 2018 , Wilmut and his squad collaborated with the University of Dundee to form aresearch initiativeforParkinson ’s , a neurodegenerative disease , after bring out he was diagnosed with the illness .
“ With the sad news today of Ian Wilmut ’s passing , science has lost a household name , ’’ Whitelaw told NBC News . “ Ian launch the research squad that produced the first clone mammalian in Dolly . This beast has had such a positive impact on how society employ with science , and how scientists enlist with society , ” he said .
More : Dolly the Sheep Did n’t Die Prematurely Because She Was a ringer
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