Matt+McDermott

GeneTech Incorporated Founder- Emmerson Breo (aka Matt McDermott)

Here at Genetech inc. we dedicate our corporation to bringing you- the customer the highest quality clones on the market. Using the best oöcytes and the safest wombs, we can bring you a reliable genetic copy of any animal you desire.

Who am I?
I am Emmerson Breo, founder of Genetech inc. and since founding this company in 1997 after seeing the cloning success of Dolly the sheep, I have created a company based the business model of giving high quality cloning samples to the public at affordable prices through Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer.

What has SCNT done for us in the past?
SCNT has experienced its first use to the public in 1997 when a team of researchers at Rosaline Institute in Scotland finally had a female sheep give live birth in our history; Dolly the sheep. Dolly was the first of her kind and after nearly a hundred failed attempts at cloning her, she was born from a normal female sheep. Dolly lived her life normally inside the Rosaline Institute, and when she reached mature age was bread with a Welch Mountain Ram to have six healthy offspring. Scientists noted that Dolly eventually developed a form of arthritis which was common to older sheep, but very rare for one her age. The symptoms were subdued for a few years, until in 2003 (she was six years old at this point, normally life expectancy of a sheep in captivity is around 12 years) when she was dying and had to be euthanized because of a combination of her arthritis at a young age, and a form of lung cancer that was again, common to older sheep but very rare to young sheep. Scientist soon began to discover that there were some downsides to cloning and that although a clone is born into a new body, it still has the same genetic age as its parent and therefore it has a greater chance to develop many genetic diseases at a much younger age. After Dolly, in 1998 a mouse was cloned and then a pig in 2000. The same year cloning reached a new potential as it had created an identical copy and created “Noah” the Guar, an endangered species of ram which gave cloning the gateway to anew future field: bringing back endangered species. She same thing happened in 2001, this time with an endangered Mouflon Sheep. Since then a Cat (2002), Cow (2002), goat (2002) rabbit (2002) deer (2003), horse (2003) mole rat (2003), wildcat (2005), dog (2005), Banteng (cow like animal also in 2005), a ferret (2006), an endangered swamp buffalo (2006), and finally a grey wolf (2007). Unfortunately for companies such as us here at Genetech, in 2005 a conference between many countries such as the United States, Spain, Italy, the Philippines, and a few others agreed of a non-binding ban on human cloning in a United Nations Forum. This sad news has imposed years of setback between us and our goal of re-creating a human being, and we will have to wait for the ban to be lifted to continue research on human cloning.

How does SCNT work?
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer is according to the Biology Department at Princeton University, “Moving a cell’s nucleus and its genetic material from one cell to another.” Basically, this means that we extract genetic information from any donor body cell and have its genetic information put into another stem cell so that the offspring will have an [almost] identical copy of the cell and therefore organism who donated the nucleus. The first step of this process is to acquire a donor somatic or 2n cell from which will have its genetic information copied, a surrogate who’s womb for which the cloned cell is to grow in as an embryo, and a starter oöcyte gamete or n cell. An oöcyte is a developing female egg cell, most of the time taken from a germ. It is used as the “egg” part of the zygote on almost all SCNT clones because of its ability to accept all nuclei into itself and begin cell division. All three of these necessary parts can come from two or three separate organisms, or just a single female organism, either way will yield the same results. The next step is to remove the nucleus from both the donor cell and the oöcyte cell through a process known as enucleation. In this process, an extremely small straw- like tube is carefully inserted into each cell and the Nuclei are sucked out. This process is not successful 100% of the time and it is therefore necessary to have both multiple cells from the donor organism and multiple oöcyte cells in case some are destroyed or contaminated. The somatic cell’s nucleus is then inserted into the cytoplasm of the oöcyte and if all goes well will soon be accepted into the cell. It is necessary for the two cells to become fused together first before they are truly ready to carry out cell processes. This can be done in two ways; the first being through means of chemical fusion, and the second being through a small and controlled electrical shock. At this point, if all has gone without error, the now “working” zygote cell is surgically implanted into a female or the same species (or a closely related specie’s) womb. This female who will deliver the cloned offspring is known the surrogate. After a normal gestation period, the cloned organism will be born like any other naturally conceived birth.

What is SCNT being used for?
SCNT although being a newly developed technology over the past couple of decades has already been the subject for many uses in the scientific world. One such use of this technology is that of cloning as a means for creating genetically identical lab animals. A common problem for scientists researching genetic diseases is that multiple animals of the same age and identical bloodline are needed. In the past, identical twins from a litter were used. But just like in humans, identical twins or triplets in lab animals are far and few in between. With cloning of animals in the near future, it is now possible to do more advanced research on specific animals without having to worry about unknown genetic variables messing up the experiment. Although it should be noted that SCNT is not used by GeneTech for this reason, as we specialize on cloning full organisms, SCNT has it's uses in regenerative medicine known as therapeutic cloning. Stem cells are taken from an organism and implanted with the nucleus of a cell from the receiving animal, and if done properly this will allow the cell tissue created to be surgically attached to the animal (in most cases human) that has lost tissue for whatever reason. Another use of cloning could be in humans. Although being somewhat controversial in its nature some possible advantages could be to re-create dead influential members of our society. For example, we could get a cell from someone extremely influential like Einstein, JFK, Da Vinci, or even Jesus and use it to create another sort of “identical twin” to them without all or their experiences and memories, but with an identical intelligence, appearance, and mindset. This is all possible because all you need for a clone from the donor organism is a single cell, dead or alive, all it needs is it’s genetic material assuming it hasn’t decomposed after an extremely long period of time. This also means it is now possible to bring back endangered or recently extinct (i.e. last few hundred years) species. If a well preserved sample from an animal such as a saber toothed tiger were to arise, then scientists could easily clone it’s DNA and have it inserted into a regular tiger’s womb and be born into captivity in a zoo.

What can we use SCNT for in the future?
In the near future, scientists here at Genetech aspire to do just that, bring cloning to the public. Ever have a pet that is just too cute to say goodbye to? Ever want to see a live mastodon? Ever want to have had the chance to meet one of history’s most evil criminals? Well within the decade, we here at Genetech can give you back your dead puppy, put a woolly mammoth in your child’s petting zoo, or even create new tourist attractions where you can meet an almost identical body double of someone like Al Capone!*All three of these things are soon to be possible thanks to SCNT technology, and will be ready for the market within a couple of years.


 * Current cloning of humans and other primates is at a standstill for the time being for the fact that around the nuclei of primates are special proteins called spindle fibers that if damaged in eunucleation may cause the organism to not grow and develop healthily

References:
"Animal and Veterinary Cloning." //U.S. Department of Health and Human Services//. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, n.d. Web. 18 Jan 2012. .

Fellbaum, Christian. "Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer." //Wordnet//. Princeton University, n.d. Web. 18 Jan 2012. .

"Oocyte." //Biology Online//. Biology Online, 7 Oct 2009. Web. 20 Jan 2012. .

http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/illust/mammuthus_hawkins.jpg

http://bootstrike.com/Genetics/Cloning/images/dollysheep.jpg