Des Moines, IA - Cloned dairy and beef cattle that will help enhance management options for milk and beef producers and improve the consistency and quality of products for consumers could be on the market in the U.S. early in the next decade, according to the chief executive officer of a leading bovine genetics company that introduced the first cloned bull calf in 1997.
Speaking at the National Forum for Agriculture in Des Moines, Marc van't Noordende of ABS Global, Inc. (ABS) said these advancements will be possible because the dairy and beef industries will apply the company's nuclear transfer technology in combination with technologies ranging from genomics to in vitro fertilization.
"The use of all these technologies together hold tremendous promise for enhancing the quality of products in several industries," said van't Noordende. "We will not only see substantial improvements in cattle performance within the next five years, but for the first time ever, these technologies are making it possible to use cattle breeding in some exciting new applications outside the traditional dairy and beef industries."
These new applications include transgenic production of pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and xenotransplantation products for human healthcare. Researchers are exploring producing human pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals from milk of transgenic cattle. Nuclear transfer technology can also be used in the xenotransplantation industry for the production of animal organs for human transplantation.
van't Noordende noted that in the dairy and beef industries, ABS is aggressively working to improve the performance of cattle through its proprietary cloning technology. "Dairy and beef producers should begin to see tremendous improvements in commercial characteristics such as milk production and carcass traits, genetic uniformity, and production of animals with specific desirable traits such as heat or mastitis resistance," said van't Noordende. "These advancements will benefit the entire food production chain from dairy and beef producers to distributors and retailers."
van't Noordende noted that ABS' sister company, Infigen, Inc., which was formed in 1997, is concentrating on partnering with other companies to commercialize applications of ABS' cloning and related technologies. For example, Infigen has formed a strategic partnership with Netherlands-based Pharming Holding N.V. to develop technologies in the biopharmaceutical and cattle breeding fields.
Infigen also is exploring the possibility of modifying its nuclear transfer technology to make it applicable to swine. It is looking for other partners in this venture, van't Noordende said.
"The possibilities for developing new applications and products using nuclear transfer technology are endless," said van't Noordende. "Our main objective is to use our nuclear transfer technology to help the dairy and beef industries make advancements that will improve their profitability and the quality of the end products that are consumed by humans.
"At the same time, it is extremely exciting that advancements we make in these industries can cross over and benefit the human healthcare field by producing economical and effective products. We strongly believe we'll be able to see tangible results from our technology within the next two years."
Marketing in more than 70 countries around the globe, ABS Global has been at the forefront of animal genetics and technology since its founding in 1941. ABS is the leading global source of bovine genetics and related animal care products.
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