Scientist who created Dolly the sheep diagnosed with Parkinson's disease

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New Delhi: Scientist, Professor Sir Ian Wilmut from Edinburgh, who created Dolly, the sheep in an effort to tackle Parkinson's disease has now been diagnosed with the condition. According to the Daily Mail, Sir Ian revealed that he was diagnosed with the disease just before Christmas. He also talked about how the condition has affected his walking.

To mark World Parkinson's Day, Sir Ian said he has high hopes for a new research programme involving Edinburgh and Dundee universities, as per the report.

Parkinson's disease can cause a range of symptoms including slow movement, muscle stiffness and involuntary shaking.Though there is no treatment for Parkinson's disease, medication can help improve the symptoms.

The professor came into limelight in 1997 when he unveiled Dolly, the first ever mammal to be cloned from an adult cell using the process of nuclear transfer. She was born at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh on July 5, 1996.

Dolly's birth paved the way for other scientists to work on a new research to cure diseases such as Parkinson’s, a long-term degenerative disorder.

As per the report, Dolly was the only surviving lamb from 277 cloning attempts and was created from an udder cell taken from a six-year-old Finn Dorset sheep.

The technique used in the process involved transferring the nucleus of an adult cell into an unfertilized egg cell whose nucleus had been removed. The hybrid cell is then stimulated to divide by an electric shock, and when it develops into a blastocyst it is implanted into the womb a surrogate mother. This resulted in the birth of a new animal that was a genetic copy of the original cell donor.

Unfortunately, Dolly passed away on February 14, 2003, at the age of six after suffering from severe arthritis and a virus-induced lung disease.