BioTech Firms in Cloning Research
(and other related organizations)
BioTech Firms:
ProBio has recieved the licensing rights to the Honolulu Technique of cloning
which produced the 50+ cloned
mice published in Nature Magazine. The biotech firm is dedicated
to developing agricultural applications of the technique for the cloning
of a wide variety of farm animals.
This company is a completely owned subsidiary of ABS
Global, Inc. Infigen is dedicated entirely to developing applications
and therapies derived from cloning research. It will "commercialize
applications of cloning technologies in the cattle breeding, pharmaceutical,
nutraceutical and xenotransplantation fields" as stated on their
web site.
PPL Therapeutics is the company that
brought you Dolly by its funding of the Roslin Institute's research that
led to it. PPL is a member of the Scottish
Biotechnology Association and has a member page listed in this registry.
(Choose the bullets from the left frame entitled Company Database
and then SbA Members List.)
Valiant Ventures, Inc. is both controversial
and plausible in its plans. The new company has begun a service called
Clonaid
in which (wealthy) infertile couples or anyone else can request a
human clone for "as low as" $200,000.00 and can take out insurance called
Insuraclone for another $10,000.00. Some notice has been taken by
biotechnology investors. The company was mentioned on the Business
Wire and on Silicon
Investor which cited the Wire. As far as I know though, the company
is not publicly traded. The company reportedly plans to offer
services within two years while they do some preliminary research on other
mammals. (I suspect that this includes the cloning of an adult monkey
or chimpanzee. The Oregon
Regional Primate Research Center has already achieved embryonic primate
clones called Neti and Ditto.
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Scientific Research Organizations
This conference promises to be a superb collection of scientists,
ethicists and policy makers. When the abstracts of the conference
are available online, I'll add a link to these electronic Proceeding of
the meeting.
A superb resource about cloning at every level. Co-sponsored by such
eminent organizations, one would expect a top rate web site with valuable
information.
As the professional society that includes such experimental techniques
such as nuclear transfer in embryos, the IETS located at UIUC in Urbana,
IL, is important in scientific conferences and collaboration among those
that engage in this kind of research.
As the name suggests, this Federation coordinates the efforts of fertility
societies worldwide. The web site has a great graphical interface
in which a world map
lists member continents. (All 7 continents except Antarctica are represented.)
Then each continent links to a regional map listing member societies.
From my exploration of the site, I noticed that there was exactly one member
society for each country listed on the regional maps. Some countries
were "Coming soon!" so likely were in the application process. An excellent
site of global reach.
Advocacy Groups:
A physician who promotes human cloning as a viable and desirable medical
option at least for (infertile) couples. As a trained
medical doctor who has only recently learned HTML, it appears that his
foundation may go places. This is a controversial site like Valiant Ventures
that is worth bookmarking and watching. (In Microsoft Internet Explorer
4.0 you can subscribe to this or any web site and get notified of new content
or even have the updated web content downloaded for off-line viewing.)
The ICS is dedicated primarily to " collect, record, file and maintain
the data (and DNA/cell specimens) of those people who have become registered
members of our Society, and have elected to make themselves available as
prospective clonees" and act "as a lobby.... a voice in support of selective
and carefully managed human cloning". The ICS has a second
site that provides additional information about the ICS. For
those considering cryonic suspension, the preservation of cells explicitly
for cloning by the ICS may be a good idea to generate the body double needed
to re rejuvenated at a later stage in history. The ICS prepared two press
releases, an earlier
one and an "addendum".
Note in re: cf. Many recent
developments in cloning such as of stem cells (11-12-98) are very closely
related to both tissue regeneration/organogenesis
and use gene therapy techniques.
(Such gene therapy techniques increasingly rely on genomic
research as well.) Instead of listing this news separetely on three
(or four) pages, it has been posted to the gene
therapy section of this web site.
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