<P> Scientists have genetically engineered several organisms, including some mammals, to include green fluorescent protein (GFP), first observed in the jellyfish, Aequorea victoria in 1962, for medical research purposes (Chalfie, Shimoura, and Tsien were awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 2008 for the discovery and development of GFP). For example, fluorescent pigs have been bred to study human organ transplants (xenotransplantation), regenerating ocular photoreceptor cells, and other topics . In 2011 a Japanese - American team created green - fluorescent cats to find therapies for HIV / AIDS and other diseases as feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is related to HIV . </P> <P> In 2009, scientists in Japan announced that they had successfully transferred a gene into a primate species (marmosets) and produced a stable line of breeding transgenic primates for the first time . Their first research target for these marmosets was Parkinson's disease, but they were also considering amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington's disease . </P> <P> Within the field known as pharming, intensive research has been conducted to develop transgenic animals that produce biotherapeutics . On 6 February 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first human biological drug produced from such an animal, a goat . The drug, ATryn, is an anticoagulant which reduces the probability of blood clots during surgery or childbirth . It is extracted from the goat's milk . </P> <P> Some animals are also genetically modified so that they can provide organs that are suitable and safe to transplant into humans (xenotransplants). An example are pigs that are genetically modified so that their organs can no longer carry retroviruses (which can pose a danger to humans, when transplanted into them). Other genetically modified pigs have had alpha galactosidase transferase knocked out and fortified with hCD46 and the hTM molecule . Pig lungs from genetically modified pigs for instance are already being considered for transplantation into humans . Besides use of genetic modification to allow the providing of safer animal organs for transplantation, genetic modification can also be used to allow the animal to grow human organs inside their body . Such animals, which are hence composed of a mixture of cells from more than one species, are called "chimeras" One project, undertaken by Pablo Ross of the University of California, involves the growing of a human pancreas inside a pig . </P>

Environmental significance of genetically modified microbes plants and animals