Roslin Institute

The Roslin Institute is an animal sciences research institute at Easter Bush, Midlothian, Scotland, part of the University of Edinburgh, that is sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The current director is Professor David Hume FRSE.

The Institute won international fame in 1996, when Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and their colleagues created Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, at the institute. A year later Polly and Molly were cloned, both sheep contained a human gene.

Roslin has made many other contributions to animal sciences, especially in the area of livestock improvement and welfare through applications of Quantitative Genetics. In 2007 a Roslin team developed genetically modified chickens capable of laying eggs containing proteins needed to make cancer-fighting drugs.

In April 2007, The Roslin Institute was joined by the Neuropathogenesis Unit of the Institute for Animal Health, well known for its role in deciphering the biology of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (mad cow disease, scrapie, CJD).