Never mind the goat, look at rabbits!

Well it's finally happened. The Dutch are looking to milk rabbits.

    Now if you’re wondering if you are going to see gourmet bunny cheese showing up on your grocery store shelves soon, the answer is “no.” The milk is actually being gathered for a different purpose. The biotech industry is using the rabbits to produce a certain human protein that is then used to produce a—yes, you guessed it—drug.

    Pharming, a biotech firm located in the Netherlands, has produced a warren of genetically engineered bunny rabbits that can produce up to 12 grams of a human protein called C1 inhibitor. The protein is then used to make an experimental drug that treats hereditary angioedema. People with this condition don’t produce enough C1 inhibitor, which can lead to painful swelling, cramps, and even possible death through suffocation

How about that for all us bunny wranglers!

my only question is who gets the task of milking said does? 

Jay Cannibalriot wrote: Pharming, a biotech firm located in the Netherlands, has produced a warren of genetically engineered bunny rabbits

DISCLAIMER: I am not involved in this project in any way!

Hmph.  I refuse to believe that a genetically modified version could be in any way comparable to original. 

Who else remembers the scene Meet the Fockers where Ben Stiller's character says he milks cats for a living?  He then demonstrates it.  This is all I can picture thinking about milking rabbits.

has anyone seen the new show nova making stuff stronger? where they genetically mess with a goat so the milk produces a protein which in turn gets separated and turned into spider silk.

The spoat/Gider didn't work out so well at first (they all died) but they have it figured out now and are producing very strong fibers (though not spider silk strong).I'm a bit curious to know why they used rabbits not goats, my guess is an immunogenic hurtle.

angioedema is currently treated with concentrated proteins from donor blood and I doubt that this is a cheaper way to treat it, but perhaps this leaves more plasma for other things. I'm firmly of the believe that we will eventually be doing virtually all of our biotech manufacturing in yeast because gosh darnit they are cheaper and easier to deal with than animals.

Interesting story, though I doubt there is anyone other than me on this forum who might actually deal with trangenics for a living.