The Roslin Institute

What is it famous for? Dolly the sheep, who in February this year, made headlines as the first mammal to be cloned from a somatic cell derived from an adult animal. The publication of this work by Roslin Institute researchers sparked intense media speculation about human cloning. Was Dolly the first to make a splash? No. Media attention had already been caught in 1991 with Tracy the sheep, the first transgenic farm animal capable of secreting a human protein in its milk. To commercialize the use of the mammary gland as a 'biofactory' for producing medically important proteins, a company PPL Therapeutics was established. When floated on the London stock exchange in June 1996, PPL shares were valued at £110 million. Is PPL closely associated with the Institute? Surprisingly, The Roslin does not own shares in PPL. They do collaborate on projects, and Keith Campbell — widely accredited with refining the nuclear transfer technology that produced Dolly — has now left The Roslin to join PPL. Are there other research interests there? The Roslin has 300 staff and students and its declared mission is to improve the productivity, breeding and welfare of farm animals. Although not the stuff of high-profile science, there is a nonetheless laudable programme of research into bone disorders in broiler chickens and management of stress in poultry. Poultry and livestock genome mapping is another area of specialization. The Roslin coordinates a Europe-wide project that has produced a linkage and physical map of the pig genome. To exploit intellectual property arising from its genome analysis program, and to provide a commercial genotyping service, a second company — Roslin Genotyping Services — was established in late 1996. How is the institute funded? It was owned by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) until April 1995, when it became a non-profit company registered as a charity. About 20% of its annual research income (£7.7 million in 1996) still comes from the BBSRC in the form of a block grant. This is expected to change, and The Roslin will compete for BBSRC funding and undergo a research assessment exercise similar to that conducted for UK universities. Additional support is provided by the European Union, the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and industry. Recently, MAFF withdrew its support for a number of research programs leading to immediate redundancies. Three project leaders in the animal welfare …