Monkey Cloning

[Michael Oberdorfer]

Cell, and other news sources report scientists from the Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai have successfully cloned macaque monkeys.

The work was done by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT.)
A number of mammals have been cloned by SCNT, most notably Dolly the sheep, but this is the first time primates have been cloned by SCNT. A primate was cloned 20 years earlier by embryo splitting.

The significance of this accomplishment is emphasized by the researchers: “Such cloning allows the production of genetically uniform monkeys as animal models for basic research in primate biology and for studying human disease mechanisms and therapeutic treatments.”