04/17/06 U/I researchers honored for clone work

Doctors Gordon Woods and Dirk Vanderwall will be honored next weekend in Nampa for their historic work that led to three cloned mules. The Idaho Horse Council calls the two University of Idaho veterinary researchers honorary legends. Woods says he and Vanderwall won by default. WOODS  "The legend they would have if they could would probably be Idaho Gem, the cloned mule but Dirk and I actually can be interviewed so they put him and I in there." Idaho Gem was the world's first, one of three mule clones born at the U of I. The second mule, Utah Pioneer who is now three years old will be on display at the Horse Expo in Nampa this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For Woods the clone project goes far beyond an animal's athletic ability. He's looking at the human health aspects derived from the clone research. WOODS "Why horses have a low incidence of diseases which humans have a real problem with in advanced stage, diseases like diabetes and some specific cancers like prostate cancer and breast cancer." His work that compared the physiology of men and horses led him to propose that calcium regulation within cells was dramatically different between the two species. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott