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According to an article in The Mail, scientists have created sheep with half their organs being human and, overall, 15 per cent human cells. Now that’s freaky.
But there’s potential scientific benefit, the scientist say: They aim to match the DNA in transplantable organs from a sheep to a particular transplant patient, improving the odds of a successful transplant by reducing the chance the patient’s body will reject the foreign organ.
The work, at the University of Nevada-Reno, has been going on for many months.
The latest news on the sheep comes just as a debate has flared over interspecies cloning, in which researchers are trying to put human DNA into animal species eggs in order do study human diseases without using human eggs.
Some say all this sort of work is morally wrong. Others just think it’s creepy. And some point out potential risk such as new types of viruses being introduced into the human population.
“Many silent viruses could create a biological nightmare in humans. Mutant animal viruses are a real threat, as we have seen with HIV,” said atrick Dixon, an international lecturer on biological trends, in the Mail article.
Should scientists be doing research like this? While you ponder that, check out our Top 10 Freakiest Lab Animals.
