The possibility of human cloning and other advancements in assisted reproductive
technologies have recently captured a niche on the news
agenda and focused ethical issues for a national debate.
But these same advancements have the capability to
significantly boost Virginia's multi-million dollar
agricultural animal industry.
In an effort to better organize
university expertise and equipment in this area, the
Center for Reproductive Excellence Using Advanced
Technology and Endocrinology (CREATE) has been
established at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of
Veterinary Medicine.
The CREATE Lab serves as an
inter-disciplinary educational, research, and clinical
resource that is unique throughout the Mid-Atlantic
states, according to Dr. Bill Ley, professor, Department
of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, and co-author of the
grant which funded the center.
Three distinct generations of
assisted reproductive technologies (ART) with fresh or
frozen semen, was initially described about six decades
ago, according to Ley. The second, embryo transfer (ET),
is about four decades old. The third, which includes
embryo sexing, oocyte recovery and in vitro fertilization
(IVF); gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT); zygote
intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT); and inntracytoplasmic
sperm injection (ICSI), is less than 20 years old.
The fourth generation of
assisted reproductive technologies is now on the horizon
and entails embryo cloning, transgenic embryo production,
nuclear (DNA) transplantation or transfer, and
parthenogenesis (auto-fertilization).
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