Among other presentations and activities, department head and professor of animal, dairy and veterinary science Kenneth White spoke about genetics and cloning, emphasizing USU’s success in this research, in his speech “Seeing Double: The Origins of Cloning,” a part of Science Unwrapped.
Sessions held one of the cow ovaries for attendees to see it up close. Each blister-like formation on the ovary was called a follicle and housed one egg, he said. There were multiple follicles in each ovary, those that did not contain an egg were full of scar tissue. Sessions pointed at one of the follicles and said when extracting an egg a scientist will look for a follicle the size of a hole punch or smaller rather than the dominant follicle, which is a few times larger. The fluid from the follicle must then be sucked out to retrieve the egg.
This topic did not only interest students of the collegiate level, but it drew elementary and high school students, as well, who arrived eager and ready to learn.
“We have gone to all of the Science Unwrapped activities because they are really interesting,” 13-year-old Logan resident Simon Davies said. “There are hands-on activities at the end and one time we actually got to dissect a pig heart.”
Michelle Larson, assistant provost, said Science Unwrapped is an event that happens on the last Friday of every month, each month providing scientific minds with new concepts. She said through these events the “hiccups” and “hurrays” of science are shared.
“Science and genetics are a really big part of my major, and I’m going to need to learn about this stuff in my labs,” said Alli Windley, freshman and pre-veterinary major. “We (my friends and I) are so geeky.”
Quinngang Weng, a genetics and cloning researcher, showed the audience the beginning steps in cloning a somatic cell on an overhead projector. The cell was magnified by a microscope and Weng used a small pipette to make a hole in the cell and then place the donor cell in the egg. Weng completed these steps successfully for all to see.
White said that in 2003, USU made a name for itself among other prestigious colleges, for successfully cloning an equine. The accomplishment recognized USU as a smart school, in the ranks with Stanford. Three identical mules were produced from this project, however, White said it was the most difficult project he has been involved in. One of the reasons the cloning process was difficult to sort out was that mules have an odd number of chromosomes.
Before successfully creating the mule clones, the research group spent nine years studying cattle eggs, White said. In 1999 the equine research group tried one small cloning session with no pregnancies. In 2000 three large sessions were conducted with still no pregnancies, and four large sessions the following year also yielded no pregnancies. Finally, in 2002, three large cloning sessions were conducted with positive pregnancy results and the three foals were born the following year.
When the mules were full-grown, White said they became racing mules, one ranking third fastest mule in the nation.
“They really do race mules, believe me, but you probably won’t see it on ESPN,” White said.
White explained why cloning animals is important to humanity and said it is ideal when cloning to duplicate those animals with superior traits. This ensures high milk production in the animal and superior carcass traits, he said.
USU has cloned 60 animals that yield prime meats. White said prime beef yields $150 or more per animal.
After the lecture, attendees were free to explore the cloning stages of a cell through multiple microscopes, and three micromanipulation stations were offered to help science enthusiasts better understand the cloning process.
Becca Condie, freshman in biology, said, “I’m fascinated by the reproductive system, because of how miraculous it is. There isn’t anything that parallels it in the human body.”
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu