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Ian Wilmut Facts & Worksheets

Ian Wilmut is an English biologist, embryologist, and the Chair of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

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Ian Wilmut is an English biologist, embryologist, and the Chair of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Sir Ian Wilmut is famous for being the leader of the research group that first cloned a mammal from an adult somatic cell in 1996.

See the fact file below for more information on the Ian Wilmut or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Ian Wilmut worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

BIOGRAPHY

  • Sir Ian Wilmut was born in Hampton Lucy, United Kingdom, on July 4, 1944. Later on, Wilmut’s family moved to Scarborough, in the north of the country, because his father wanted to accept a teaching position.
  • Wilmut attended the Scarborough High School for Boys and met Gordon Whalley, who was the head of the biology department of the said school.
  • Wilmut first showed his interest in the life sciences under Whalley’s influence. After graduating high school, Wilmut enrolled in the University of Nottingham to study agriculture.
  • During Wilmut’s freshman year at Nottingham, his first encounter with scientific research happened. Professor Eric Lamming was the one who mentored Wilmut, who was an expert in reproductive science and animal physiology. It was the mark of the beginning of Wilmut’s curiosity with animal genetics.
  • Wilmut’s father, Leonard Wilmut, suffered from diabetes that brought blindness to his father, which was another factor why Wilmut’s interest began developing in that certain field.
  • After graduating from Nottingham, Wilmut completed an internship at Cambridge in the laboratory of Christopher Polge, who was a prominent cyrobiologist. There, Wilmut was introduced to techniques of preserving and manipulating animal cells.

CRYOPRESERVATION OF EMBRYO

  • Wilmut graduated from Nottingham in 1967 with a degree in agricultural science. Later on, he entered Darwin College at Cambridge University while continuing his work in Polge’s laboratory.
  • Wilmut joined the research about freezing and preserving boar semen. During his time at Darwin College, Wilmut also worked with L.E.A. Time Rowson. In 1971, Wilmut completed his PhD with his thesis about on deep freeze preservation of boar semen.
  • Wilmut continued his research at the Animal Breeding Research Station (ABRS) after completing his doctorate. ABRS was located in Roslin, just near from Edinburgh, Scotland. ABRS was also renamed to Roslin Institute in 1993.
  • The research of Wilmut focuses on the cryopreservation or the freezing of cow embryos and their ability to develop into viable cows. Wilmut’s team managed to implant a frozen calf embryo in the womb of a surrogate mother that yielded a calf, named Frosty.
  • Knowing that there are limitations of cattle production, Wilmut and his technique allowed the transfer of embryos and stock improvement, would have great prospects for the livestock and agricultural industry.
  • Later on, his research led him to his next step, cloning an organism.

CLONING AN ORGANISM

  • During the 1980s, the broad scientific community had some significant doubts about the idea of cloning any animal, especially mammals. An embryologist, Steen M. Willadsen of Grenada Genetics, supposedly cloned cattle, which encouraged Wilmut in his research.
  • During the 1970s and 1980s, Willadsen published several papers on his several techniques and discoveries, that was also co-authored by Rowson and Polge, Wilmut’s mentors from Cambridge.
  • While doing his research in Roslin Institute, together with Keith Campbell, they discovered that, in order to make a differentiated cell behave like an embryonic cell, it is necessary to make the cell to become quiescent or to hibernate.
  • They prompted the quiescence in differentiated embryonic cells and later implanted them in the wombs of a surrogate sheep. The results of these processes were manifested in two sheep, Megan and Morag, that were born in July 1995.
  • In July 1996, the next breakthrough happened for Wilmut and his team with the birth of Dolly. Dolly is the cloned Finn Dorset sheep named after country singer Dolly Parton. The sheep was produced by combining an ovum and an adult mammary cell’s quiescent nucleus.
  • The quiescent nuclei were injected into the denucleated sheep ova and implanted into a surrogate mother. After this, the nucleus would resume activity, and the cell would behave like a regular embryonic cell.
  • Dolly’s birth and the processes and method they have used that produced the cloned sheep, drew so much attention to Wilmut and his team in the scientific community and in popular culture.
  • However, many people feared that these advancements and discoveries would lead to the abusing of embryos and later on, the cloning of humans. In several interviews after Dolly’s birth, Wilmut made it clear to the public that he will not support the cloning of humans.

WILMUT’S OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS

  • After his successful research with Dolly the sheep Wilmut continued his work at the Roslin Institute. He focused and did further research about embryological manipulation in 2005.
  • During that time, Wilmut became the director of the Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He also received permission to extract cells from cloned human embryos to used them to study motor neuron disease.
  • However, Wilmut did not continue this particular method when he heard that Japanese scientists found that instead of using embryonic stem cells, they used adult somatic cells to induce greater potency.
  • However, Wilmut always emphasized the importance of cautious application in ambitious research as a vital rule of his own. Wilmut also stated that he would continue to be a great supporter in the field of regenerative medicine.

WILMUT’S AWARDS AND CONTROVERSY

  • Wilmut has a family with his wife, Vivien. They have three children and five grandchildren.
  • Wilmut received awards including the Order of the British Empire in 1999, the Paul Ehrlich Prize in 2005, and induction to the Royal Society in 2002.
  • He also received the prestigious Shaw Prize in 2008. In the same year, he was invited to the event that also sparked great controversy since several people felt that Wilmut had overstepped his limitations in the manipulation of life.
  • However, despite having these controversies, Wilmut continued to be an important personality in the field of embryology.

Ian Wilmut Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Ian Wilmut across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Ian Wilmut worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Ian Wilmut who is an English biologist, embryologist, and the Chair of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Sir Ian Wilmut is famous for being the leader of the research group that first cloned a mammal from an adult somatic cell in 1996.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Ian Wilmut Facts
  • Wilmut’s Profile
  • Timeline of the Embryologist
  • The Cloned Sheep
  • The Jumbled Works
  • The Human Cloning
  • Missing Words of Wilmut
  • Question of the Scientist
  • Cell: Embryonic VS Somatic
  • Fact or Bluff
  • The Goals

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