Robert H. Foote, Cornell professor emeritus of animal science and a pioneer in cloning, will testify at hearings before the New York State Assembly Committee on Science and Technology on April 14 at the Roosevelt Hearing Room C, Second Floor, Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y. The hearings begin at 10:30 a.m. EDT

Assemblyman Robert K. Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst) will chair the hearing. This is the second New York legislative hearing in which Foote has participated since the news in February that Scottish scientists have successfuly cloned a sheep from mammary cells. Foote will offer a statement on cloning and the value of cloning research. He believes that cloning offers scientists opportunities to help those suffering from medical conditions and that it has important implications for agriculture.

Foote brings to the hearing more than 40 years of scientific research experience in animal science at Cornell. He has authored 500 peer-reviewed, scientific papers on the subject of animal science, biology and animal reproduction.

"No one can predict the exact outcome of this research, but it very well could lead to discoveries of great importance, as to causes of birth defects, various forms of cancer and other malfunctioning of cells. Certainly aging is another example," Foote said.

Most of his work falls into four research categories: The in vitro fertilization, culture and micromanipulation of embryos; oogenesis, superovulation and embryo transfer; extenders for semen and cryopreservation; and spermatogenesis and epididymal function. All of his work was done to improve agricultural animals or to provide a better understanding of the reproductive process in all mammals.

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He also will explain to lawmakers that the recent cloning advances present an opportunity to make valuable medicinal products. The multiple copies of transgenic animals are capable of producing products such as milk proteins with the blood clotting factor, human serum albumin for burns, proteins for premature infants with emphysema and products for treatment of cystic fibrosis.

In the late 1950s, Foote used carbon 14 and thymidine radioisotopes to label DNA during spermatogenesis, to begin understanding sperm production for artificial breeding in agricultural animals. He also performed the classic work that established that all "eggs" in the adult female were formed as ovarian oocytes in the fetal ovary -- meaning that an adult female will have as many eggs as she will ever have when she is born.

Foote's animal reproduction research also led to improvement of animal health. He found the use of the antibiotic combination of penicillin, streptomycin and polymyxin, used between 1950 and 1988 to treat bull semen, helped wipe out Vibrio fetus, a disease that had cost the cattle industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

Foote earned a bachelor's degree with honors from the University of Connecticut in 1943. He earned a master's degree in 1947 and a doctorate in 1950, both from Cornell. In 1950, Foote began teaching animal science at Cornell as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1956, then full professor in 1963.

In 1958, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the Zoophysiology Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Prior to his teaching and research career, Foote was a first lieutenant in the 442nd unit (composed of Japanese-Americans) of the U.S. Army during World War II, a well-known unit that helped drive the Nazis out of Italy and France. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, with a cluster, for his efforts at the battle of Bruyere,