Mad Cow Cloning

• After federal officials announced the first case of mad cow disease (BSE) in the United States, Will Eyestone and a team of researchers at Virginia Tech set out to genetically engineer cows without the deadly prion protein responsible for the disease,

• Earlier research proved that mice lacking the normal prion protein could not be infected with abnormal prions and therefor could not catch any prion diseases.

• By using the skin cells of a cow, which were tested to show that they could not make prions, scientists hope to create a prion free cow using a technology similar to cloning.

• The team claims that it is “a win-win type of experiment” because the end result will either give some hint to what the prion protein actually does and if it is necessary in cows, which is currently unknown, or it will create a BSE immune cow.

This article caught my interest because I have been interested in cloning ever since my second grade science fair, where for my project I invented a theoretical “cloning gun”, which defied just about every law of physics and genetics. However, I did have an inkling of an understanding on how cloning actually worked, and this article brought of the interesting idea of cloning and genetic modification used in union with each other. I also had no idea that nobody actually knew what the prion protein really did, they just knew it could become infected. Secondly, I also have always been interested in the effect of what should happen should some organism just lose part of its makeup on a molecular level. Of course, in second grade I imagined it would be something like the animal's legs disappearing or its skin turning purple.

Citation:

"Mad Cow Cloning: Science Videos - Science News - ScienCentral." ScienCentral | Science Videos | Science News. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .