Ten years of somatic cell cloning monkey technology - Remembering the Team of Somatic Cell Clone Monkeys of the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In January 2018, two cloned monkeys, Zhongzhong and Huahua, became the biggest stars of the world' attention when they appeared in the international journal Cell.
this is the world's first somatic cell cloning of a non-human primate.
their birth means that the era of cloning monkeys with somatic cells is the beginning of an experimental animal model.
a year later, "China and China" and "Huahua" have five "brothers".
they appeared in the National Science Review, China's top journal, as the world's first model of somatic cell cloning monkeys with biological rhythm disorders, and again became the focus.
" this achievement means that China has officially started a new era of mass-produced, standardized modelling of disease-cloned monkeys, which is of great significance for accelerating the development of new drugs.
" said Pu Muming, director of the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
, in The Words of Pu Muming, such a major scientific research achievement, in fact, rely on a "elite small team" out.
the birth of Seon lost horses "Middle China" and "Huahua" condensed the nerve institute Suzhou primate research platform throughout the research team's energy and nerve support for many years, but the process of naming is very rapid.
to ensure that the results of cloned monkeys is the first international case, in the two monkeys successfully grow a few days later, team leader Sun Qiang and the main member Liu Zhen still dare not relax, busy processing data, ready to contribute.
to catch up with the article between them to Pu Muming, give these two monkeys what name? "Would you one of you get up and call 'strong' and 'real'?" Pu Muming looked at the two people, Sun Qiang and Liu Zhenlian even shook their heads.
Pu Muming thought again, said: "'China' and 'Huahua' how?" "The crowd said yes in unison.
", although it took only a few minutes to determine the name, but later thought, the dream of Chinese revival in the hearts of everyone has been hidden for a long time.
" Wang Yan, secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Neurology, concluded.
just a few months before the birth of the two monkeys, members of the somatic cell cloning monkey team had just suffered the "biggest blow" of their research careers.
to ensure the success of the study, the team tried to clone two different somatic cells, monkey ophthalcells and monkey fetusfibrocells.
the summer of 2017, two fetuses born by caesarean section but not survived a group of two fetuses cloned using monkey oocytes for more than 130 days.
only one step away from success, several team members mood can not be calmed, to the side of Taihu turned around, forcing themselves to adjust their mentality.
a few months later, in a group that used monkey fetusfibrocells to clone, two macaques were normally pregnant for more than 140 days and successfully gave birth to their fetuses, which gave the two monkeys a name. The
Institute of Neurology Suzhou primate research platform was born in 2009.
's recent years of construction have not been smooth, having experienced few research outputs, a few people looking after hundreds of monkeys, and even flood-fighting, the research also faced fierce competition from peers.
2012, Pu Muming hammered the tone, setting a new goal for the research platform: to carry out non-human primate cell nuclear transplantation research. "This was a big problem that we had not solved in our field at the time, "
. Liu Zhen, a researcher at the Institute of Neurology, one of the
"team members, told China Science Daily.
thick-haired clones need to remove the receptor's egg nucleus and inject it into the nucleus of the allogeneic cell.
monkeys as primates, their nucleus is more fine, more complex, more difficult to clone, has not been favored for a long time.
team research output is not satisfactory, why take the hard and unflattering "hard bone"? This is actually a "big game" laid by the nerves.
Pu Muming has said that sending a top academic journal article is not a major technological breakthrough.
a real breakthrough would be to achieve milestones in the field or to open up innovative research.
", "the key is to be able to organize teams, not just to explore freely."
small team of somatic cell clone monkeys is an example of a breakthrough.
"It's not easy to be the world's No.
decided to carry out the study of cloned monkeys, team members more calm, come up with years of accumulation of real nature, a little "eat" cloning problem.
Sun Qiang has spent nearly 4 years studying test-tube monkeys in the mountains of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, and has accumulated valuable experience.
Liu Zhen to train their own level of microscope operation, once six hours a day sitting in front of the microscope, using mouse embryos to do cell denuclearization of the operation of training.
a lot of practice, Liu Zhen's operation of the injection nucleus can be accurate to seconds, the microscope's robotic arm as if his own hands, an hour to take more than 50 mouse eggs such as flowing clouds. Wang Yan, head of experimental veterinary medicine at the
platform, practiced the skills of identifying monkeys: sorting each monkey according to the length of the tail, size, hair color, beard, and even eye size.
every time into the monkey room, the monkey group not only do not avoid, but will be obediently waiting for her to grab the tail to check, some will also take the initiative to lean over.
cloned animals are often difficult to give birth, platform veterinary director Lu Yong in the duty to stay awake, adhere to every 30 minutes to send a QQ to the work group, to ensure that they can monitor the small changes of pregnant macaques.
"researchers need to have a sense of urgency.
" Pu Muming said the challenge of somatic cell cloning "is done in an environment of urgency".
the somatic cell clone monkey conundrum, which was supposed to be solved in 2020, will see the dawn of victory by the end of 2017 because of the team's effort.
Qiang Xing Suzhou primate research platform built so far, the team from less than 10 members to today more than 20 people, more than 1000 monkeys, has been adhered to the team members gradually grow up.
team also received the 2018 Chinese Academy of Sciences Team of the Year honorary title.
2009, sun Qiang took root on Xishan Island, a two-hour drive from Shanghai, after finishing his "practice" on Xishuangbanna Mountain.
to ensure that the research as soon as possible, Sun Qiang as fast as possible site selection, recruitment, rent venues, so that the experimental platform is in its infancy;
"We want to do as much as we can with less resources."
," Sun said.
When Liu Zhengang arrived at the Institute of Neurology, he was a master's student of Sun Qiang, and now the "native" doctor did not choose to go abroad, but became a group leader of the platform, began to do some research projects independently.
" the support of the big platform is the foundation of everything.
, Liu Zhen told China Science Daily, "We are very lucky that we just do what we do with our feet."
" 10 years, Wang Yan witnessed the entire platform from scratch, from the little girl who did not step out of Yunnan, into the cloned monkey assisted reproduction experiment field "bull man" - her one laparoscopic minimally invasive egg transplant can be controlled in 20 to 30 minutes, the highest one-day surgical record is 11, not to mention her years of experience with monkeys accumulated.
the whole team, mastering the technology of non-human primate cell cloning is just the beginning.
as the head of the platform, Sun Qiang said, the next day is more to "resist loneliness."
"There are many answers to the monkeys, not one or two experiments."
there are many areas of technology that need to be refined and optimized.
"We have bigger questions ahead, including how to use cloned monkey technology to build useful disease models and how to really use it in the treatment of human diseases."
," Mr Pu said.
Source: China Science Daily.