cloning to produce human proteins

Question 1

how many attempts did it take scientists to clone a sheep?

Answer 1

276

Question 2

why did scientists create Dolly the sheep?

Answer 2

they were exploring the possibilities of producing medicines in the milk of mammals

Question 3

what is a transgenic animal?

Answer 3

an animal that contains a foreign gene within its genome

Question 4

what does this foreign gene allow?

Answer 4

causes the animal to produce a useful compound which gets expressed within its milk

Question 5

once the animal has become transgenic what can the animal be cloned for?

Answer 5

to produce a whole herd or flock, all of which produce the new special milk

Question 6

what is this process called?

Answer 6

pharming

Question 7

what has pharming been used to produce?

Answer 7

antibodies for targeting cancer cells in humans
blood clotting factor IX for haemophilia (blood clotting disorder)
Alpha-1-antitrypsin for cystic fibrosis sufferers

Question 8

what could pigs be genetically modified to have?

Answer 8

human antigens (recognition proteins) on their cell membranes

Question 9

what could pigs being GM mean?

Answer 9

allow pig organs to be transplanted into humans as it would reduce the immune response against the organ and risk of rejection

Question 10

what is xenotransplantation?

Answer 10

transplants between different species

Question 11

what could xenotransplantation lead to?

Answer 11

viruses being transferred between species

Question 12

what is another way to produce human proteins, like antibodies?

Answer 12

genetically engineer goats or similar animals to produce human proteins, like antibodies in their milk

Question 13

what could the GM pigs do?

Answer 13

they could be cloned to increase the population

Question 14

what could their milk do?

Answer 14

the proteins could be collected from the milk and used to treat patients with weak immune systems, such as cancer or HIV patients, or other health conditions