Chinese Researchers Clone 5 Gene-Edited Monkeys

Scientists in China have cloned five monkeys after editing genes to induce several human diseases like Alzheimer’s that they claim will help in medical research.

The Process

• Macaques are chiefly Asian monkeys typically having a sturdy build and including some short-tailed or tailless forms.
• The gene-edited macaque had circadian rhythm disorders associated with depression, diabetic, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
• To create an ideal donor monkey, the researchers knocked out BMAL1, a core circadian regulatory transcription factor, using gene editing at the embryo stage.
• They selected one of the gene-edited monkeys with the most severe disease phenotypes as the donor.
• The fibroblasts (the main connective tissue ....