Dolly the sheep team member dies

Oct 11 2012

One of the main team members involved in cloning Dolly the sheep has died, it has been confirmed.

Professor Keith Campbell, who was 58, died on Friday. He led the scientific research into the creation of Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, at the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute in 1996.

Sir Ian Wilmut, who led the team and became known as the sheep's creator, was reported to have said Prof Campbell deserved 66% of the credit for his contribution.

Prof Campbell started working at the institute in 1991 and left in 1999 when he became a Professor of Animal Development at the University of Nottingham. A spokesman for the university confirmed his death.

Since Dolly, research into animal cloning has developed rapidly. Cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses, dogs and cats have all been cloned, as well as laboratory animals such as mice and rats.

Sir Ian was awarded a knighthood in the 2008 New Year's Honours List for his services to science.

He is now the chairman of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

Last month, the team involved in creating Dolly were reunited when they appeared on BBC Radio 4's Reunion show.

Sir Ian, Prof Campbell, Bill Ritchie, Marjorie Ritchie and John Bracken, who is said to have named Dolly after popular country singer Dolly Parton, all took part.

Dolly started her life in a test tube before the embryo was transferred into a surrogate mother six days later. She was born on July 6 1996 but the scientific development was not made public until the following year, to allow the results to be prepared. Dolly went on to successfully produce six lambs, the first being Bonny in 1998.