John ClarkBorn 18 Sep 1951; died 12 Aug 2004 at age 52.Anthony John Clark was an English molecular biologist who was a pioneer in the application of molecular technology to farm animals. In 1985, he began work in genetic modification (at what is now the Roslin Institute) to produce a sheep giving milk with human proteins. He was successful within five years. Tracy* (born 1990) in each litre of her milk, produced 35g of alpha-1-antitrypsin (used in treatment of cystic fibrosis). During the 1990's, Clark continued to develop transgenic techniques on large animals. With his colleagues, he a produced a sheep from which a prion protein gene had been removed. Clark's work set the stage for Ian Wilmut's team at Roslin to clone a sheep, Dolly (1996), the result of transplanted the DNA of an adult sheep to an unfertilised egg cell. Clark died at age 52, suffering from depression, was found hanged in his holiday home.«[*Ref: see Biotechnology (9 Sep 1991), 9, 830-835. Image: Tracy the sheep with DNA graphic.] |
