Alba was the name of a genetically modified "glowing" rabbit created as an artistic work by contemporary artist Eduardo Kac, produced in collaboration with French geneticist Louis-Marie Houdebine. Houdebine used the

GFP GFP may refer to: Organisations * Gaelic Football Provence, a French Gaelic Athletic Association club * Geheime Feldpolizei, the German secret military police during the Second World War * French Group for the Study of Polymers and their Applicat ...

gene found in the

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

, ''

Aequorea victoria ''Aequorea victoria'', also sometimes called the crystal jelly, is a bioluminescent hydrozoan jellyfish, or hydromedusa, that is found off the west coast of North America. The species is best known as the source of two proteins involved in biolu ...

'', that fluoresces green when exposed to blue light. This is a protein used in many standard biological experiments involving fluorescence. When Alba was exposed to such light, she would literally glow green — though photos by Kac showing the entire organism, including its hair, glowing a uniform green have had their veracity challenged. Eduardo Kac has described Alba as an animal that does not exist in nature. In an article published in ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', Houdebine admitted creating Alba for Kac and stated that Alba has a 'particularly mellow and sweet disposition.' This article generated a global media

scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

, which caused Houdebine to distance himself from Kac's work. All subsequent media articles present variations on Houdebine's disengagement effort. Alba's lifespan is an open question. In 2002, a US reporter called INRA (France), where Houdebine works, and was told that Alba had died. The reporter published an article stating that Alba was dead but the only evidence she provided was to quote Houdebine as saying: "I was informed one day that bunny was dead without any reason. So, rabbits die often. It was about 4 years old, which is a normal lifespan in our facilities." In the 2007

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

Members Meeting in Barcelona, Louis-Marie Houdebine presented in detail his version of the reality of 'The GFP rabbit story', placing emphasis on

sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotion ...

by journalists and the TV media.

References

External links

Eduardo Kac's website

* ttp://www.conncoll.edu/ccacad/zimmer/GFP-ww/GFP-1.htm Description of technology used to create Alba Rabbits and hares in art Individual rabbits Contemporary works of art Genetically modified organisms {{Lagomorph-stub