Robert Briggs (December 10, 1911 — March 4, 1983) was a scientist who, in 1952, together with Thomas Joseph King,

cloned Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, c ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

nuclear transfer Nuclear transfer is a form of cloning. The step involves removing the DNA from an oocyte (unfertilised egg), and injecting the nucleus which contains the DNA to be cloned. In rare instances, the newly constructed cell will divide normally, rep ...

of embryonic cells. The same technique, using somatic cells, was later used to create

Dolly the Sheep Dolly (5 July 1996 – 14 February 2003) was a female Finnish Dorset sheep and the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. She was cloned by associates of the Roslin Institute in Scotland, using the process of nuclear transfer from a ...

. Their experiment was the first successful nuclear transplantation performed in

metazoan Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motility, able to move, ca ...

s. He was a scientist at the Institute for Cancer Research of the Lankenau Hospital Research Institute (now known as the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research) when the work was conducted.

Background

Upon the death of his mother when he was two years old, Briggs was raised by his grandparents in Epping, New Hampshire. Inspired by a high school science teacher, Briggs became interested in the biological sciences. However, he began Boston University in the business school, concerned with earning a living during the Depression. Business courses couldn’t maintain his interest and he turned to the sciences. He graduated from Boston University in 1934 with a BS degree and enrolled at Harvard for graduate study. He earned a PhD degree in 1938 while studying metabolism in frog embryos. For four years, he served as a fellow in the Department of Zoology at McGill University where he studied tumors in frogs. In 1942, he joined the Lankenau Hospital Research Institute (now the

Fox Chase Cancer Center Fox Chase Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center research facility and hospital located in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The main facilities of the center are loca ...

) in Philadelphia. He worked on amphibian embryos for the rest of his life.

References

External links

National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs
American medical researchers 1911 births 1983 deaths Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Boston University alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fox Chase Cancer Center people {{US-scientist-stub