Researchers Aim to Clone, Resurrect Mammoth Within Five Years

[Ryan Ruck]

Researchers Aim to Clone, Resurrect Mammoth Within Five Years

January 17, 2011

Japanese researchers will launch a project this year to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth by using cloning technology to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life in about five years time, a report Monday said.

The researchers will try to revive the species by obtaining tissue this summer from the carcass of a mammoth preserved in a Russian research laboratory, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

"Preparations to realize this goal have been made," Akira Iritani, leader of the team and a professor emeritus of Kyoto University, told the mass-circulation daily.

Under the plan, the nuclei of mammoth cells will be inserted into an elephant's egg cells from which the nuclei have been removed to create an embryo containing mammoth genes, it said.

The embryo will then be inserted into an elephant's womb in the hope that the animal will eventually give birth to a baby mammoth. Researches hope to achieve their aim within five to six years, the Yomiuri said.

The team, which has invited a Russian mammoth researcher and two US elephant experts into the project, has already established a technique to extract DNA from frozen cells.

The researchers had once given up similar plans after nuclei in the cells of mammoth skin and muscle tissue were damaged by ice crystals and proved unusable.

However, another Japanese researcher, Teruhiko Wakayama of the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology, succeeded in cloning a mouse from the cells of another that had been kept in deep-freeze for 16 years.

Based on Wakayama's techniques, Iritani's team devised a method to extract the nuclei of mammoth eggs without damaging them.

"If a cloned embryo can be created, we need to discuss, before transplanting it into the womb, how to breed [the mammoth] and whether to display it to the public," Iritani said.

"After the mammoth is born, we will examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors."

More than 80 percent of all mammoth finds have been dug up in the permafrost of the vast Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia. The most perfectly preserved remains of the Ice Age mammals still have hair and internal organs.

[Malsua]

Mmmm, Mammoth steaks.

[catfish]

I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's kind of cool and scary at the same time. I'm fairly certain of why they went extinct, most likely hunted to extinction. I think this technology is better suited to animals that went extinct more recently, say 100 years. With the discovery of soft tissue inside dinosaur bones, perhaps even a Jurassic Park may be possible.

I like the part where he said they weren't sure if it would be put on display or not. Yeah right, you clone a mammoth and that shit is going on tv.

[American Patriot]

Guys.... we had a thread about this... LONG time ago. (2-3 years ago).

I think someone is lying to us.

lol

[American Patriot]

Resurrecting another Zombie Thread.

Mammoth Carcass Found with Liquid Blood

Thu, 05/30/2013 - 7:00am

North-Eastern Federal Univ.



Get daily news for laboratory professionals - Sign up now!


NEFU scientists have discovered a female mammoth. Image: North-Eastern Federal Univ.Members of a paleontological expedition from North-Eastern Federal Univ., and the Russian Geographical Society found an incredibly well preserved carcass of a female mammoth on Lyakhovsky Islands of Novosibirsk archipelago.


The mammoth soft tissues are well preserved. According to the scientists, the tissues of the animal are almost ideal, only the upper part of the body, head and left hind leg were skeletonized. The scientists examined the teeth and established that the mammoth’s age was about 50-60 years.


“The fragments of muscle tissues, which we’ve found out of the body, have a natural red color of fresh meat. The reason for such preservation is that the lower part of the body was underlying in pure ice, and the upper part was found in the middle of tundra. We found a trunk separately from the body, which is the worst-preserved part,” says Semyon Grigoriev, the head of the expedition, the chairman of the Mammoth Museum. The researchers collected the samples of the animal’s blood in tubes with a special preservative agent. “The blood is very dark, it was found in ice cavities bellow the belly and when we broke these cavities with a poll pick, the blood came running out. Interestingly, the temperature at the time of excavation was -7 to -10 C. It may be assumed that the blood of mammoths had some cryoprotective properties.”


A visit of the Russian and foreign colleagues is expected in July, who shown a keen interest in the new discovery. The mammoth samples were brought to Yakutsk for bacterial examination in order to detect causative agents of especially dangerous infections.


“It was important to discover the mammoth in cold weather, because the unique discovery would melt in summer or autumn, and the priceless material for joint project ‘Mammoth rebirth’ between NEFU and Sooam foundation could disappear from thawing and wild animals,” says Grigoriev.


NEFU RIAEN scientists dedicated their unique discovery to the 100^th anniversary of Yakutsk branch of the Russian Geographical Society, one of the expedition organizers, and 20^th anniversary of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North.

[American Patriot]

Mammoth liquid blood found

Chances of cloning a prehistoric woolly mammoth have been boosted after Russian scientists found liquid blood inside a 10,000-15,000 year-old female carcass.

Controversial figure to be involved in mammoth cloning

Following the discovery of liquid inside the carcass of 10-15,000 year-old female woolly mammoth, scientists will attempt to clone the animal.
The team from Russia's Northeastern Federal University made the find on an island off the coast of Siberia.

A vial containing the liquid blood found in the prehistoric animal. Credit: The Siberian Times

See more pictures of the woolly mammal liquid blood discovery

Last year, the university signed a deal with controversial cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk of South Korea’s Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.

South Korean Hwang Woo-Suk scientist holds Snuppy, the first cloned male dog. Credit: Reuters

In 2005, Dr Hwang created the world's first cloned dog but was later embroiled in controversy over claims of faked landmark human embryo cloning research.


In addition, it emerged that female researchers in his laboratory has supplied eggs for his research.


Dr Hwang later apologised for the scandal insisting he had been deceived by staff members.

Researchers' discovery of mammoth liquid blood

Russian scientists have found liquid blood inside the carcass of prehistoric woolly mammoth on a remote island in the Arctic Ocean.
The pictures featured in The Siberian Times, captured the expedition team after they made their discovery.

A vial containing the liquid blood Credit: The Siberian Times

Semyon Grigoryev, the head of the expedition, said: "This find gives us a really good chance of finding live cells which can help us implement this project to clone a mammoth".
Read: Mammoth cloning boost after liquid blood discovery

The muscles seen on the woolly mammoth's carcass Credit: The Siberian Times

Mammoth specialists are now expected to study the remains which are being held at an undisclosed location.
"I won't say where it is being kept or it may get stolen," Mr Grigoryev said.

The scientists during their expedition on the island off the coast of Siberia Credit: The Siberian Times

about 7 hours ago

Mammoth cloning boost after liquid blood discovery

Chances of cloning a prehistoric woolly mammoth have been boosted after Russian scientists found liquid blood inside a 10,000-15,000 year-old female carcass.
It may sound like a scene straight out of Jurassic Park, but scientists believe the discovery on an island off Siberia provides a "really good chance" of bringing the mammoth back to life.

Scientists pictured next to the carcass of the woolly mammoth Credit: North-Eastern Federal University

Semyon Grigoryev, the head of the expedition said of the find: "When we broke the ice beneath her stomach, the blood flowed out from there, it was very dark".


“This is the most astonishing case in my entire life. How was it possible for it to remain in liquid form? And the muscle tissue is also red, the colour of fresh meat,” he added.


According to The Times, a deal has been signed to give South Korean scientists exclusive rights to clone the mammoth.


Hwang Woo Suk, a stem cell scientist who created the world’s first cloned dog in 2005, said that once the tissues had been treated to a nuclear transfer process eggs would implanted into the womb of a live elephant for a 22-month pregnancy, the newspaper said.

[American Patriot]

Jurassic Park moves one step closer? Russian scientists find woolly mammoth 'blood and muscle tissue' in Siberia

Discovery in Siberia passed on to researchers who hope to clone extinct animal


James Legge



Thursday 30 May 2013








The Jurasssic Park dream of cloning long-dead animals from their genetic remains may have taken a step closer to reality, as scientists claim to have found mammoth blood.
The purported discovery came inside the carcass of a female mammoth, which died 10,000 to 15,000 years ago.
Semyon Grigoryev, the head of the expedition, told The Siberian Times the discovery of blood and muscle tissue was "the most astonishing case in my entire life," and could be a boost to researchers who dream of cloning the animal.
He said: "When we broke the ice beneath her stomach, the blood flowed out from there, it was very dark.
"This is the most astonishing case in my entire life. How was it possible for it to remain in liquid form? And the muscle tissue is also red, the colour of fresh meat."
Mr Grigoryev, who is a scientist at the North-Eastern Federal University, in Yakutsk, Siberia, said the bottom of the carcass was so well preserved because it ended up in a frozen pool. The upper part of the body is thought to have been eaten by predators.
The discovery, made in an ice tomb in the New Siberian Islands, or Novosibirsk Islands, gives new hope to researchers in their quest to bring the woolly mammoth back to life, according to Mr Grigoryev.
"This find gives us a really good chance of finding live cells which can help us implement this project to clone a mammoth," he said.
"Previous mammoths have not had such well-preserved tissue."
Last year, Mr Grigoryev's Northeastern Federal University signed a deal with cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk of South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, who in 2005 cloned a dog for the first time.
Mammoth specialists from South Korea, Russia and the United States will now study what remains of the carcass, which is being kept at an undisclosed location.

[American Patriot]

Exclusive: The first pictures of blood from a 10,000 year old Siberian woolly mammoth

By Anna Liesowska
29 May 2013


Remarkable images show a test tube blood sample from a female of the long-extinct species.



First ever sample of mammoth's blood was discovered by Siberian researches. Picture: Semyon Grigoriev



Scientists say they have found both blood and muscle tissue - perfectly preserved in the ice - from a Siberian mammoth.


The blood had dripped out of the giant animal into a natural ice capsule and it represents a dream discovery for researchers.


It comes amid a hotly contested debate on whether scientists should try to recreate the extinct species using DNA, though there now seems little doubt that this WILL happen, and the Russian team from Yakutsk that made the find is working in a partnership with South Korean scientists who are actively seeking to bring the mammoth back to life.



'We were really surprised to find mammoth blood and muscle tissue,' said Semyon Grigoriev, head of the Museum of Mammoths of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North at the North Eastern Federal University. Picture: Semyon Grigoriev



The find was made in temperatures of minus 10C on the New Siberian Islands - or Novosibirsk Islands, off the coast of the Republic of Sakha.


'We were really surprised to find mammoth blood and muscle tissue,' said Semyon Grigoriev, head of the Museum of Mammoths of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North at the North Eastern Federal University.


'It is the first time we managed to obtain mammoth blood. No-one has ever seen before how the mammoth's blood flows'.


He explained: 'The approximate age of this animal is about 10,000 years old. It has been preserved thanks to the special conditions, due to the fact that it did not defrost and then freeze again.


'We suppose that the mammoth fell into water or got bogged down in a swamp, could not free herself and died. Due to this fact the lower part of the body, including the lower jaw, and tongue tissue, was preserved very well.


'The upper torso and two legs, which were in the soil, were gnawed by prehistoric and modern predators and almost did not survive.'


Despite this, he hails it as 'the best preserved mammoth in the history of paleontology.



'For now our suspicion is that mammoth blood contains a kind of natural anti-freeze'. Picture: Semyon Grigoriev



The scientists believed from studying her teeth that this mammoth died when she was between 50 and 60 years of age.


'Of course, we all heard the stories, that indigenous northern people found frozen mammoth meat and fed their dogs with it. However, even if this actually happened, they did not get into hands of scientists.


'We hope that at least one living cell of the mammoth was preserved, but even in such a good condition of the carcass the chances of this are small.


'Yet it is great luck that the blood preserved and we plan to study it carefully'.

---

'We have taken all possible samples: samples of blood, blood vessels, glands, soft tissue, in a word - everything that we could'. Picture: Semyon Grigoriev

'For now our suspicion is that mammoth blood contains a kind of natural anti-freeze.


'In 2010, Canadian researchers compared the DNA of the mammoth and its closest relative the Indian elephant. It turned out that mammoth haemoglobin let go of its oxygen much more readily at cold temperatures.'


With the newly-discovered mammoth 'we have taken all possible samples: samples of blood, blood vessels, glands, soft tissue, in a word - everything that we could.
'Luckily we had taken with us on our expedition a special preservative agent for blood.


'We decided that taking the whole carcass by helicopter to Yakutsk would be very dangerous and that we could lose invaluable material because of defrosting. We did not take the risk, and moved the rest of carcass - it weighs about a ton - from the islands to the mainland and put it into an icehouse.
'In late July - early August, we plan to go there with our foreign colleagues for further researches.'

---

'We moved the rest of carcass from the islands to the mainland and put it into an icehouse'. Pictures: Semyon Grigoriev



Last year a deal was signed giving South Korean scientists exclusive rights on cloning the woolly mammoth from certain tissue samples found in the Siberian permafrost. Stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk's private bioengineering laboratory confirmed he is poised to make a bid to return the extinct Siberian mammoth to the planet.


Once the tissues have been treated to a nuclear transfer process, the eggs will be implanted into the womb of a live elephant for a 22-month pregnancy.

[MinutemanCO]

Crazy. So we're going to have mammoths running around again courtesy the cloning process? Interesting. I hope they make good pets. I just thought of something, though. If they don't find another specimen, won't all the clones be female?

[American Patriot]

I'm not sure... But probably. Thing is they have to also find a surrogate mommie for the baby mammoth. That means a will elephant participant.

I'm sure the Union for Free Elephants will fight this.

(If there isn't a UfFE out there, there will be.....) lol

[MinutemanCO]

[American Patriot]

ROTFLMAO!

You have an unusual amount of free time on your hands today then? hahahahahaha

[MinutemanCO]

I'm very efficient with Photoshop.

[American Patriot]

hahahaha good...