In 1996 the world was shocked when the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh announced the successful cloning of a sheep named Dolly. It is the first time in the history of the world that a mammal has been successfully cloned. Sir Ian Wilmut, who led the team that produced Dolly, died yesterday at the age of 79 from Parkinson's disease.
Sir Wilmut's success opened the study of stem cells which are now used to treat various diseases such as Parkinson's. Unfortunately, science did not advance fast enough for Sri Wilmut to see the technology he pioneered being used to treat himself.
Dolly was cloned using the mammary cells of a Fin-Dorset sheep and the eggs of another sheep combined. This produces an embryo which is then implanted into another sheep. The world's most famous sheep died in 2003 of lung disease and is now on public display at the Roslin Institute.
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