Korea Unveils Clones of Cancer-Detecting Dog
A collaborative project between Seoul National University and the Korean biotechnology firm RNL BIO Co Ltd (Public, SEO: 003190) has produced four identical puppies cloned from a Labrador Retriever with the ability to detect cancer by its smell.
Cancer-sniffing dogs are trained to sit in front of people or biological samples that carry the scent of specific chemicals present in cancer cells. Previous research has shown these dogs can detect the presence of bladder, breast, prostate and lung cancers simply by smelling a patient or their urine.
RNL Bio cloned Marine, a black Labrador Retriever trained by the St Sugar Cancer Sniffing Dog Training Center in Shirahama, Japan, from skin samples sent to Seoul National University last December. Yuji Satoh, the head trainer at St Sugar’s, made the decision to give Marine’s DNA to the university after a womb disease made it impossible for the dog to give birth.
The three-week-old puppies have been given the names Marine-L, Marine-N, Marine-R and Marine-S. Once the puppies have been trained, one will be donated to St Sugar’s and another to Seoul National University. The company plans to sell the two remaining puppies for $500,000.
RNL Bio used patent-pending technology to enhance the embryo implantation process so multiple births would be possible. As one of the company’s executives said,
“Cloning dogs is nothing new anymore. But we are the world’s first to have cloned four at a time from one surrogate mother. This makes it cost effective, and now we mean real business.”
Jeong Chan, Ra
CEO, RNL BIO Co Ltd
If you’re a cancer patient in the US who’d like to learn more about cancer detection, click here to visit the American Cancer Society Early Detection Guidelines web page.
Source: ABC News
Related Links: france24.com; REUTERS
Technorati Tags: non-invasive medicine; oncology
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