Word: monkey
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...cycles, and their neurological and immune systems differ in important ways. Much better to have a more closely related animal with body systems that are more like ours--which is why primate center senior scientist Gerald Schatten and his colleagues decided to try manipulating the genes of the Rhesus monkey, a close cousin to humans and already the mainstay of many medical experiments...
Before they could try transferring a gene, the scientists had to master the technique of in vitro (that is, test-tube) fertilization, which isn't typically used with monkeys. Though the technique wasn't required to create ANDi, the Oregon team had already learned to clone the animals, which in the future will prove important since having identical copies of different monkey strains will be crucial for rigorous scientific experiments. That milestone--the first cloning of a primate by embryo splitting--was achieved by Schatten's group last year...
...animal-rights activists, the leap from mouse to monkey will be a red flag. More broadly troubling, ANDi's success also raises the specter of human-germline gene engineering--that is, altering people's basic DNA so that any changes are passed on to their offspring. This sort of genetic tinkering, which could ultimately lead to "designer babies," artificially enhanced to be healthier, smarter or even more attractive, is currently far beyond our expertise. Nobody is likely to try to play God with humans in this way for decades...
...what are we to make of this? Does it really matter that scientists can make a slightly fluorescent monkey? How much demand is there for glow-in-the-dark cats, dogs or wayward kids out too late at night on their bikes...
Probably not much. But ANDi represents something much more important. The tiny light cast by this baby monkey shows that it is possible to genetically engineer ourselves...