Dr. Voelkel of Granada Biosciences requests Phase I funding to explore various methodologic factors preparatory to cloning non-human primate embryos. The limited availability of primates for research and the problems of disease within colonies suggest that cloned non-human primates would have substantial advantages for the research community. Presently, cloning techniques for a number of common eutherian mammals have been developed. The techniques are similar enough, between species, to assume that they can be successfully applied to primates with relatively little modification. Voelkel proposes to determine the timing of nuclear maturation in vitro, the ability of oocytes to activate in response to an electric stimulus, the most effective means of enucleating oocytes and the extent to which oocytes will fuse with non-primate blastomeres. He plans to obtain oocytes from animals at regional primate facilities that are being sacrificed for other purposes. The oocytes will be aspirated from secondary follicles and placed in various incubation media for transport to the investigators' laboratories. During Phase II the applicant intends to demonstrate the efficacy of the optimized techniques from Phase I to culture embryos.
