Replies to post #2665 on GTC Biotherapeutics (fka GTCB)

[used to make chicken]

There are some potential advantages that I see for chickens in the long term, but i still feel that there is more than enough room for all.

1)Without going into details with figures, I can assure you that on a per gram basis, chickens will provide a significant savings over goats. This is taking into account land and waste management, feed conversion, housing, animal and product handling, purification, the whole shebang.

2)The scale up time from founder to production is faster with chickens. Six month generation time so less than two years from mosaic founder through hemizygous generation and on to full homozygotes. Furthermore, with artifical insemination, a single founder rooster can be used to inseminate 20 or so hens per day in about one man hour of work.

3)While every protein is a case by case basis as we have discussed, there are many proteins that cannot be produced in mammals because they are potent cytokines or such that with a slightly leaky system can prove lethal to mammalian physiology.