Missyplicity
Encyclopedia
The Missyplicity Project was a project devoted to cloning Joan Hawthorne and John Sperling
's dog, a border collie
and husky
mix. Missy died on July 6, 2002 at the age of 15 years.
One of the key scientists on the Missyplicity Project and Genetic Savings & Clone was Dr. Taeyoung Shin, who was born and completed his Ph.D. in South Korea
before moving to the United States. After both The Missyplicity Project and GSC proved unable to clone dogs, Dr. Shin’s Ph.D. thesis advisor, Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk
, led a team of research scientists at Seoul National University
in a major dog cloning effort. This project was designed to overcome the specific obstacles encountered by both the Missyplicity and GSC teams.
In 2005, Dr. Hwang and his team successfully cloned the world’s first dog, which they named Snuppy
. In 2007, Lou Hawthorne, former CEO of GSC and current CEO of BioArts International, was introduced to Dr. Hwang and his team by Dr. Shin of BioArts, and asked if they would clone Missy. They agreed and Missy’s DNA was flown to the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation outside of Seoul.
The scientists at Sooam, led by Dr. Hwang, took Missy’s DNA and successfully produced three Missy clones. After 10 years of research and effort, the quest to clone Missy had finally succeeded. Three identical clones of Missy were returned to the original owners. The clones are named Mira (after a Korean myth of an all-powerful benevolent dragon), Chingu (which means "friend" in Korean) and Sarang ("love").
Mira, born December 5 2007, was the world’s first clone of a family dog
and bore a striking physical and behavioral resemblance to the original Missy. Chingu and Sarang were born on February 15 and 19. They were flown to the United States on April 18, where they joined their genetic sister Mira.
and clone their own pets. In response to this demand, several members of the Missyplicity Project founded Genetic Savings & Clone (GSC) in February 2000.
Operation CopyCat was a branch of the Missyplicity Project that concentrated on cloning cats, after the discovery that dog genes are harder to copy than cat genes. Operation CopyCat announced that on December 22, 2001, CopyCat was born of the Missyplicity Project. She was called CC for short, and was born at the Texas A&M, College of Veterinary Medicine.
BioArts and Sooam decided to partner to offer a limited number of cloning spots to the public through a program called "Best Friends Again".
John Sperling
John Glen Sperling is an American businessman who is credited with leading the contemporary for-profit education movement in the United States. His fortune is based on his founding of the for-profit University of Phoenix for working adults in 1976, which is now part of the publicly traded Apollo...
's dog, a border collie
Border Collie
The Border Collie is a herding dog breed developed in the Anglo-Scottish border region for herding livestock, especially sheep. It is the most widespread of the collie breeds....
and husky
Husky
Husky is a general name for a type of dog originally used to pull sleds in northern regions, differentiated from other sled dog types by their fast hard pulling style...
mix. Missy died on July 6, 2002 at the age of 15 years.
History
In 1997, news that Dolly the sheep had been cloned inspired the couple to find out whether their dog Missy could also be cloned. In 1998, a multi-million dollar project was launched to clone Missy, trading as "Genetic Savings & Clone". Missy died in 2002 before efforts to clone her had succeeded, but her DNA was gene banked for future cloning efforts.One of the key scientists on the Missyplicity Project and Genetic Savings & Clone was Dr. Taeyoung Shin, who was born and completed his Ph.D. in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
before moving to the United States. After both The Missyplicity Project and GSC proved unable to clone dogs, Dr. Shin’s Ph.D. thesis advisor, Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk
Hwang Woo-Suk
Hwang Woo-suk is a South Korean veterinarian and researcher. He was a professor of theriogenology and biotechnology at Seoul National University who became infamous for fabricating a series of experiments, which appeared in high-profile journals, in the field of stem cell research...
, led a team of research scientists at Seoul National University
Seoul National University
Seoul National University , colloquially known in Korean as Seoul-dae , is a national research university in Seoul, Korea, ranked 24th in the world in publications in an analysis of data from the Science Citation Index, 7th in Asia and 42nd in the world by the 2011 QS World University Rankings...
in a major dog cloning effort. This project was designed to overcome the specific obstacles encountered by both the Missyplicity and GSC teams.
In 2005, Dr. Hwang and his team successfully cloned the world’s first dog, which they named Snuppy
Snuppy
Snuppy is an Afghan hound, credited with being the world's first cloned dog. The puppy was created using the cell of an ear from an adult Afghan hound and involved 123 surrogate mothers, of which only three produced pups...
. In 2007, Lou Hawthorne, former CEO of GSC and current CEO of BioArts International, was introduced to Dr. Hwang and his team by Dr. Shin of BioArts, and asked if they would clone Missy. They agreed and Missy’s DNA was flown to the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation outside of Seoul.
The scientists at Sooam, led by Dr. Hwang, took Missy’s DNA and successfully produced three Missy clones. After 10 years of research and effort, the quest to clone Missy had finally succeeded. Three identical clones of Missy were returned to the original owners. The clones are named Mira (after a Korean myth of an all-powerful benevolent dragon), Chingu (which means "friend" in Korean) and Sarang ("love").
Mira, born December 5 2007, was the world’s first clone of a family dog
Companion dog
Companion dog usually describes a dog that does not work, providing only companionship as a pet, rather than usefulness by doing specific tasks. Many of the toy dog breeds are used only for the pleasure of their company, not as workers...
and bore a striking physical and behavioral resemblance to the original Missy. Chingu and Sarang were born on February 15 and 19. They were flown to the United States on April 18, where they joined their genetic sister Mira.
Related projects
The news of the project to clone Missy spread quickly, and many people contacted Hawthorne and Sperling wanting to gene bankGene bank
Gene banks help preserve genetic material, be it plant or animal. In plants, this could be by freezing cuts from the plant, or stocking the seeds. In animals, this is the freezing of sperm and eggs in zoological freezers until further need. With corals, fragments are taken which are stored in water...
and clone their own pets. In response to this demand, several members of the Missyplicity Project founded Genetic Savings & Clone (GSC) in February 2000.
Operation CopyCat was a branch of the Missyplicity Project that concentrated on cloning cats, after the discovery that dog genes are harder to copy than cat genes. Operation CopyCat announced that on December 22, 2001, CopyCat was born of the Missyplicity Project. She was called CC for short, and was born at the Texas A&M, College of Veterinary Medicine.
BioArts and Sooam decided to partner to offer a limited number of cloning spots to the public through a program called "Best Friends Again".