Artificial Monkey Twins Could Help in Medical Studies

Researchers using a technique called embryo splitting hope to grow genetically identical rhesus moneys in the laboratory--a breakthrough that would enable experiments such as growing new organs from stem cells to be tested on monkeys rather than mice. Monkeys are closer than mice to human biology.

The technique does not involve cloning. The animals produced would be identical twins but would differ genetically from their parents. A clone is genetically identical to a single parent.

The technique has so far produced only one living rhesus monkey, but professor Gerald Schatten said that four more twinned infants are on the way.

Schatten, a researcher at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, said the goal is to produce identical monkeys that could be used to perfect new therapies for human disease. The study appears today in the journal Science.