Create the first "chimera" monkeys

    Create the first

    They are called Roku, Hex and Chimero and are the first chimera monkeys in the world. Like the Greek myth of the chimera, which defined beings whose bodies and features were made up of those of several animals, they were born, that is, by mixing together the genomes of different animals, from embryos that contained cells belonging to several fertilized eggs.



    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

    They are called Of the year, Hex e Chimero and they are the first chimera monkeys in the world. Like the Greek myth of the chimera, with which they defined beings whose body and whose appearance were made up of those of several animals, were born, that is, mixing the genomes of different animals together, from embryos that contained cells belonging to several fertilized eggs.



    In other words, the three little monkeys are a real e own genetic mosaic: in the cells of their own organism they have a higher number of genomes, up to six. Hence the name of the twins Roku and Hex, which indicates this number in Japanese and Greek. In short, these are not chimeras resulting from mythology, such as sphinxes, minotaurs or centaurs, but real monkeys, in flesh and blood, the result of animal experimentation. Thus the dream of a slightly more cruelty free America is shattered, after theannouncement of the freeze on grants for biomedical and behavioral research on primates by the American Institutes of Health, the National Institutes of Health, had bode well. And from the Oregon National Primate Research Center of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland (USA), where to understand, in 1997 the first monkey was cloned, comes yet another blow.

    The study, published in Cell, would be the new frontier of stem cell studies and it would serve to learn, improve and refine the techniques of making these cells to repair damaged tissues in humans. "Ours is an important milestone - explains Shoukhrat Mitalipov, author of the study - because we have demonstrated a key difference between the different species and between the different types of cells, which will affect our knowledge of stem cells and their possible use in medicine. regenerative ”, because these cells, although of different origins, never fuse, but work together to carry out the normal function of the tissue or organ they are part of. “If we want to move stem cell-based therapies from lab to clinic and from mouse to man, we need to understand what these primate cells can and can't do. We need to study them in humans, including human embryos, ”concluded the researcher.



    Roku and Hex from OHSU News on Vimeo.

    Does this mean that we should rejoice? Absolutely no. For the Lowin fact, it is "bad news to start 2012" with a "bleak and meaningless game". The same researchers specified that these experiments they cannot be applied to man: it is a basic research "an end in itself", "absolutely useless", which has its roots in the possibility of practically doing everything on animals, as if they were objects to be disassembled and reassembled out of simple curiosity; a macabre living Rubik's cube, explains the animal rights association. But this, apparently, does not prevent the alchemists' game of animal experimentation. "We hope that this is the latest news on an experiment of proven scientific uselessness that involved animals, and we hope that 2012 will instead bring encouraging news of true, useful and animal-free research", concludes Michela Kuan , biologist in charge of LAV vivisection sector.



    Roberta Ragni

    add a comment of Create the first "chimera" monkeys
    Comment sent successfully! We will review it in the next few hours.