To produce genetically engineered livestock, many enabling technology developments have been required.  The previous or current members of the MULE Team have led the field, world-wide, with many of the “firsts” in regard to embryo technologies or livestock engineering.  Some of these “firsts” include the following:

First pig zygotes reconstructed from transplanted nuclei (Prather et al ’89);

Identification of when the pig zygotic genome is first activated (Jarrell et al ’91);

Development of the first robust porcine embryo culture system (Petters & Wells ’93);

Development of the first robust chemical method of porcine oocyte activation (Machaty et al ’97) (a revenue generating IP);

First robust in vitro fertilization system for pigs, (Abeydeera & Day ’97);

Development of the first robust system for porcine oocyte maturation (Wang et al ’97);

Production of the first genetically engineered pig model for a human condition (Petters et al ’97):

Production of the first genetically engineered livestock expressing an agriculturally relevant trait (Wall et al ’05);

First seven examples of gene knockouts in the pig (Lai et al ’02; Lorson et al ’11; Mendicino et al ’11; Prather et al ’13; Ramsoondar et al ’11; Rogers et al ’08a; Rogers et al ’08b) (the IP described in Lai et al ’02 continues to generate revenue);

The first pigs that transgenically express microRNAs (Ramsoondar et al ’09);

The first gene knockout in a pig from gene editing (Whyte et al ’11);

The first three pig knockouts from CRISPR/Cas9 technology (Whitworth et al ’14);

The first domain swap in pigs (Wells et al ’17);

The first CRE deletion in pig zygotes (Whitworth et al ’18);

and the first gene edited pig to be licensed for commercial use (Whitworth et al ’16).

Additionally, the group developed an inexpensive alternative to commercial sources of Cas9 (Redel et al ’18).