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June 7, 2001
Contact: Duane Garner
XY Inc.
(970) 491-2085
XY Inc. SCIENTIST RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS INDUSTRY AWARD
FORT COLLINS, COLO.--Dr. Duane
L. Garner, vice president for research and development at XY Inc.,
will receive the National Association of Animal Breeders' Research
Award for his significant contributions to the animal-breeding industry.
NAAB will present the bi-annual award to Garner at its 2001 convention in Kansas
City, Mo., in August in recognition of his pioneering work to develop techniques
for sperm analyses and to enhance sperm-sorting technology in cattle, horse,
pig and sheep industries.
Garner, who joined XY Inc., in 1999, is a world-leading expert in sperm metabolism,
viability and freezing. Garner is well regarded for influencing breakthroughs
in sperm-sorting technology through his work at XY Inc.; at land-grant universities
in Washington, Illinois, Oklahoma and Nevada; and at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory and the United States Department of Agriculture.
Garner is known as a biochemist and a cell biologist who has worked in two
broad areas: sexing sperm and sperm physiology.
Using a high-speed cell-sorting machine called a MoFlo, Garner and his colleagues
can separate sperm that carry the X chromosome, thereby producing females,
from sperm that carry the Y chromosome that produces males. Female animals
are then artificially inseminated with sperm carrying the desired chromosome.
The sorting procedure does not involve genetic modification in any way -- it
merely separates the male- and female-producing sperm.
Already, thousands of successful and healthy pregnancies have been achieved
in cattle worldwide using sperm-sexing methods combined with artificial insemination.
The use of sexed sperm in the cattle industry is positive for several reasons:
Female calves are smaller than male calves at birth, which makes first-time
calving easier for two-year-old heifers; and the technology facilitates herd
replacement and genetic improvement.
XY Inc., is the only company in the world licensed to pursue sperm sorting in non-human
mammals - such as cattle, horses, pigs and exotic species -- using U.S. Department
of Agriculture methods.
For more information on XY Inc., call (970) 493-3113 or e-mail info@xyinc.com.