DNA pioneer: Cloning a Neanderthal would require "adventurous" woman

ERIC CABANIS/AFP/Getty Images

Updated Jan. 22, 2013

Like a storyline pulled from the movie "Jurassic Park," a professor at Harvard University has outlined steps for cloning a long-extinct Neanderthal baby. One's first question may be, "Why would you want to do that?" And, more intriguingly, "Who would carry the offspring?"

In a recent interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Harvard University genetics professor George Church, 58, says we may soon be able to clone a Neanderthal by using technology that is rapidly developing. Church's research in the 1980s laid the groundwork for genome sequencing. He tells the magazine the chance of a Neanderthal clone in his lifetime "depends on a hell of a lot of things, but I think so."

In describing the process in which a Neanderthal clone would be created, Church tells Der Spiegel:

The first thing you have to do is to sequence the Neanderthal genome, and that has actually been done. The next step would be to chop this genome up into, say, 10,000 chunks and then synthesize these. Finally, you would introduce these chunks into a human stem cell. If we do that often enough, then we would generate a stem cell line that would get closer and closer to the corresponding sequence of the Neanderthal. We developed the semi-automated procedure required to do that in my lab. Finally, we assemble all the chunks in a human stem cell, which would enable you to finally create a Neanderthal clone.

Two major hurdles would stand in Church's way: Cloning is illegal in many countries, and the search for, in his words, an "extremely adventurous female human" to serve as a surrogate mother would no doubt be daunting.

It's believed that Neanderthals have been extinct for at least 33,000 years. A woman would have to be willing to carry the fetus of a species that has not existed in tens of thousands of years.

Church understands the ethical questions that comes along with such a proposal and tells Der Spiegel they could not successfully accomplish the experiment until "human cloning is acceptable to society."

Were that the case, Church points to Neanderthals' superior cranial mass and speculates on how their intelligence may be greater, or different, than that of humans. Their addition to society would also stimulate evolutionary diversity.

Church goes on to say that a cloned Neanderthal would probably not exist alone in a laboratory, but that scientist would certainly have to "create a cohort" to give the clone a sense of identity, perhaps even creating their own "political force."

Cloning a Neanderthal isn't the only bold idea Church has proposed. The professor envisions a world where viruses are fought by changing the genetic code of humans. Doing so could make humans resistant to viruses like influenza, measles or rabies. This technology could be applied to food, as well, making crops resistant to viruses.

Church argues that people should not be scared of the technology because researchers would not take immediate leaps.

"We are not going to be making a virus-resistant human before we make a virus-resistant cow," Church told Der Spiegel.

Editor's Note: After Church's interview in Der Spiegel received a flurry of media attention, the professor clarified his stance on cloning Neanderthals, telling the Boston Herald that his words were "badly misinterpreted." While he discusses how cloning Neanderthals could be possible one day, Church says he does not advocate it.

"I'm certainly not advocating it," Church told the Boston Herald. "I'm saying, if it is technically possible someday, we need to start talking about it today."

Read the full interview with on Spiegel.de.

[mahovictor]

Middle Earth, the land of the Neanderthals. Perhaps it was a time of magic. Cloning Adam. Intriguing for sure. Cloning King David. Cloning Jesus. Yet, you can not clone the spirit. The idea of cloning a Neanderthal is out there so investors and venture capitalists have something to think about. A military army of Neanderthals. Imagine that one. Humans create their main predator.

[WhereisOT]

"It's believed that Neanderthals have been extinct for at least 33,000 years"

Beg to differ....take a look around, Listen to their grunts/speak, Hear their "idears", more than ez to get a read on em...
Still hangin on after all these years...

[Scimajor]

This is much ado about nothing as the technology to actually do what he proposes is still in the distant future. While we can sequence an entire genome we do not, for example, have the technology to synthesize even a single intact chromosome.

This guy just wanted his name in the headlines.

[Lew_Is]

But with technology growing exponentially, I wouldn't count it out.

[Rooster211]

How is the brain of a Neanderthal wired ? How violent would they be ? There is a reason why Neanderthals went extinct. Be careful what you wish for !!!

[aulbrandt]

Please tell us, what is the "reason" Neanderthals went extinct? Neanderthals lived along side **** Sapiens and seemed to display very similar cultural and technological developments as their **** Sapien counterparts. That they are prehistoric and extinct bears no causal relation to them being violent.

[foo8259]

Hokum ... the DNA sequence is only part of what makes an organism. It's the expression of the genome that makes a human, and not an ape, which share an 96% similar genome. We don't yet fully understand epigenetics, it's a relatively new concept.

[gerryrigger]

I don't have any objection to resurrecting species/subspecies for which **** sapiens' actions/activities were the root cause of their extinction. In today's age of enlightenment, I am not opposed to technology-enabled attempts to right past wrongs. All I ask is that these undertakings be conscience driven as opposed to profit or ego driven. People and parties that are willing to fund these experiments should be doing it because they believe they're supporting a good deed.

[MIO42]

NO MORE NEAADERTHALS PLEASE
THERS WAY TOO MANY OUT THERE NOW
AND THEY ARE BREEDING BIG TOME !

[varigdc10]

The professor is late on this already. I see these types everytime I drive thru the south side of Chicago.

[prm777]

This guy must have been a big Frankenstein fan as a kid! How he can argue that this would in any way result in "increased diversity" is beyond me. The only way I can see that happening is if he is proposing that his newly cloned neanderthals would commence to mating with modern humans, in which case, you may have some increased genetic diversity, but I'd expect it to be a significant step backward in "evolution".

[RetiredArmy_Nurse]

Cloning to bring back extinct species has long been a scientific goal. I am not sure we should be so far reaching to bring back neandertals at this point in time, but other recently extinct species that disappeared due to us would be where to start. Those that come to mind are the thylacine, passenger pigeon, ivory billed woodpecker, great auk, moa bird and a host of other beautiful plants and animals that met their end thanks to the earth's most destructive, uncaring predator, e.g. mankind.

[sootnstars]

I was thinking within this same sentiment recently. If I were to magically become open to cloning (which I have not), I would want to start with species that have recently become extinct needlessly and before their time. The issue with this is that human beings would have to be willing to restore numerous homes, environments and eco-systems in order for them to thrive. That (no matter how much I wish) I don't see happening.