The Second Creation: Dolly and the Age of Biological Control

by Ian Wilmut, Colin Tudge

Human cloning has grabbed people's imagination, but that is merely a diversion--and one we personally regret and find distasteful. We did not make Dolly for that ... Our work completes the biotechnological genetic engineering, genomics, cloning. It also provides an extraordinarily powerful scientific model for studying the interactions of the genes and their surroundings--interactions that account for so much of development and disease. Taken together, the new biotechnologies and the pending scientific insights will be immensely powerful. Truly they will take humanity into the age of biological control. The cloning of Dolly in 1996 from the cell of an adult sheep was a pivotal moment in history. For the first time, a team of scientists, Led by Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, was able to clone a whole mammal using a single cultured adult body cell, a breakthrough that revolutionized three technologies and brought science ever closer to the possibility of human cloning. In this definitive account, the scientists who accomplished this stunning feat explain their hypotheses and experiments, their conclusions, and the implications of their work. Researchers have already incorporated into sheep the gene for human factor IX, a blood-clotting protein used to treat hemophilia. In the future, cultures of mammary cells may prove to be valuable donor material, and genetically modified animal organs may be transplanted into humans. Normal pig organs, for example, are rapidly destroyed by the human immune system, but if altered genetically, they could alleviate the serious shortage of available organs. Genetically engineered sheep are also expected to be valuable as models for genetic defects that mimic human disorders such as cystic fibrosis, and for cell-based therapies for diseases--such as Parkinson's, diabetes, and muscular dystrophy--that lack universally dependable treatments. But what are the ethical issues raised by this pioneering research, and how are we to reconcile them with the enormous possibilities? Written with award-winning science writer Colin Tudge, The Second Creation is a Landmark work that details the most exciting and challenging scientific discovery of the twentieth century--with the furthest-reaching ramifications for the twenty-first.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology

333 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Sir Ian Wilmut, OBE FRS FMedSci FRSE (born 7 July 1944) is a British embryologist and Chair of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known as the leader of the research group that in 1996 first cloned a mammal from an adult somatic cell, a Finnish Dorset lamb named Dolly. He was appointed OBE in 1999 for services to embryo development and knighted in the 2008 New Year Honours.

Reviews

[Mari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as background to a novel I was writing, in about 2003. It was brilliant, easy to understand, and very interesting. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the science behind cloning, and to also understand the scientists who work in the area. Was recommended to me by a friend who worked in biochemistry.

[Jackie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally scientists are pretty dry when it comes to writing, but Dr. Wilmut has really made this one exceptionally interesting. If you are interested in cloning whatsoever this book is highly recommended as a brief history and details of the work that went on to create Dolly the cloned sheep from start to finish.

[Bárbaro Ferro · Rating 5 out of 5]

La historia de la clonación de Dolly sigue siendo interesante después de casi 20 años. La divulgación de problemas científicos complejos atrae a muchos lectores. El tema de este libro sigue siendo relevante.

[Alex]

"And although the story is complicated, it is biology, and biology is not physics: that is to say, it is not weird "

I think I'm going to love this book. :)

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good read if a little slow. I enjoyed hearing what really went into the cloning of dolly and what it means more broadly for science. Reminds you that scientists with big, famous work are still people.