It was February 1997 when suddenly all the media started talking about Dolly the sheep, a successful experiment that was carried out months ago and marked a before and after for science and genetics in particular. Until then, for many, knowledge of this scientific field was limited only to Mendel’s peas, so such a shocking contact with this scientific branch spread for quite a long time as a topic for reflection and conversation.

At the beginning of July of the previous year, Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell, then working at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, lived the milestone of the most important project of their professional career when Dolly the sheep was bornthe first mammal in the world cloned by an adult somatic cell and thus demonstrated the exceptional potential of stem cells in the field of regenerative medicine, but also for many other fields such as biology or even agriculture.

Dolly the sheep had a total of six offspring in her six years of life, one in 1998, twins in 2019 and triplets in 2020. A year later she began to suffer from osteoarthritis, which was successfully treated, but subsequently developed a variant of bone cancer. a lung disease called Jaagsiekte, which affects sheep, and which caused his death in 2003. An attempt has been made to link his death to the fact that it was the result of cloning, as the average lifespan of his species is about twice that. He had Dolly the sheep. however causation could not be demonstratedto which we must add that other sheep in the same flock suffered from the same disease, which also caused their premature death.

This experiment was a milestone, but also put Ian Wilmut in the spotlight, as successful cloning sparked a debate of epic proportions with various groups believing it went beyond what was legitimate and ethical. Religious groups around the world accused scientists of playing God, the debate over the risks of human cloning reached unprecedented milestones, with key implications such as “designer humans” (coincidentally, the same year Gattaca was released, which dealt with the risks of excess in this sense) and yes, the scientific community welcomed these results, as they deserved, with open arms and great admiration.

After his experience with Dolly the sheep, Wilmut carried out several more experiments, although none achieved the notoriety of Dolly’s achievements, but after moving to the University of Edinburgh, a few years later, he focused his research on using cloning aimed at the production of stem cells in the field of regenerative medicine. He had to confirm on more than one occasion that cloning human beings was definitely not part of his plans or research, something he had never really considered in his entire career.

He retired in 2012 and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease five years ago, in 2018, which led him to become a key figure in his Alma mater, a research program dedicated to trying to stop the progression of the disease. A disease that, although not explained, we can assume is responsible for it his death, which occurred yesterday, the 10th of September. Rest in peace.

More information: The Guardian