This week (December 14, 2007), Professor Kong Il-keun, of the Gyeongsang National University, South Korea, announced he has cloned the world’s first red fluorescent cat. The South Korean researcher chose to create a genetically modified cloned cat because we know a lot about the genetics and reproductive systems of cats and they are better models of humans than mice.

Kong read about the techniques used to clone “Cc” (named for the abbreviation for carbon copy), the first feline clone, who was born Dec. 22, 2001, on the campus of Texas A&M. Cc’s creation was funded by Genetic Savings & Clone, a company created to clone the pets of wealthy cat owners. However, the company could not attract enough clients, it only managed to sell two cloned cats at between $32,000 and $50,000 each. It closed its doors in 2006.

After reading about Cc, Kong, a medical researcher, cloned his first cat in 2004.  Kong is not interested in creating clones of pets, instead his interest is grounded in the fact that there is no genetic variability between clones, which makes them ideal subjects for the study of inherited diseases. These feline genetic diseases are of special interest to those in the medical community because approximately 250 of the diseases are also found in humans.