Daisy the cow

For readers interested in the case of the young cow mentioned here the other day, the original PhD thesis is online. It is titled RNAi-mediated Reduction of a Major Ruminant Specific Milk Allergen Using a Transgenic Mouse Model and is by Md Anower Jabed (about whom I know nothing other than that he is married with a child and is a Muslim).

It’s not about Daisy but about the research that led to her creation, and it’s really interesting: there’s a lot about milking mice, which is not something I had given much thought to before. There’s also a lot about why making milk with less BLG protein is worth a try. The tables and appendices are hard-core science that is way beyond me (“Appendix 7:  Restriction digestion of pGL 164 and TOPO-oBLG constructs”, anyone?) but the main text is admirably clear. I wonder if Claire Bleakley will find time to read it.