Canadian dentist Dr Michael Zuk hit the headlines last year when he purchased John Lennon’s wisdom tooth at auction for around £20,000; the rotten molar had been removed in the 60’s and was left with the housekeeper Dot Jarlett, before coming up for auction in 2012. Dr Zuk, an enthusiastic collector of Beatles memorabilia, has decided to go one step further and is considering cloning the song-writer using DNA from the extracted tooth.
Dr Zuk believes that he could create a Lennon clone with the DNA, and a little help from a team of scientists; he told The Examiner that advances in scientific technology have already cloned mammoths, so using the same techniques for human cloning should not be too much of a leap. Dr Zuk is feeling confident about the theory, saying ‘I am nervous and excited at the possibility that we will be able to fully sequence John Lennon’s DNA, very soon I hope. With researchers working on ways to clone mammoths, the same technology certainly could make human cloning a reality.’
He went on to say that the prospect of Lennon ‘re-born’ would be incredible, adding ‘to potentially say I had a small part in bringing back one of rock’s greatest stars would be mind-blowing.’
The tooth is currently on tour across the world to promote cancer awareness.