Cloning Dolly, How and Why?
About Keith Campbell
"I just want to know how everything works."-quote by Keith Campbell
The paths of great scientists often seem to wind in a serendipitous sort of way, changing the course of human events as if by chance. Had Keith Campbell not come along when he did, answering Ian Wilmut's ("Dolly" project leader) 1991 announcement in Nature of a postdoctoral position at Roslin Institute, perhaps his stunning contribution would have been fulfilled by someone else. Perhaps not.
Dr. Campbell entered the realm of scientific research in a somewhat roundabout way. As a youngster, he was fascinated by the world around him, and recalls challenging his mother's patience by "changing the color of things around the house" with his chemistry set. In his early academic years Campbell embarked on a vocational path, becoming certified as a laboratory technician, whose task it is to assist others on their research projects. He worked in that capacity in Saudi Arabia for a time, soon realizing that he needed more intellectual stimulation. He wanted to conduct his own research.
In the 1980's, as a PhD student at England's Marie Curie Institute, Campbell became involved in basic cancer research, an experience that sparked his interest in cell division and differentiation&and in the cell cycle. His special expertise in the cell cycle led to an appointment as Postdoctoral Higher Scientific Officer at Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, and, working with his distinguished colleague Ian Wilmut, to the now world famous birth of Dolly the sheep, the first animal to be cloned from an adult, differentiated cell.
Sources:
The Second Creation- Dolly and the Age of Biological Control, by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell, and Colin Tudge, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000
Keith Campbell interview, June 22, 2001 at Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, MA
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