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Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady on Tuesday revealed his dog, Junie, is a clone of his late pit bull mix, Lua, who died in 2023. Brady welcomed Junie after Lua was cloned by biotech de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences, in which Brady is an investor, he told People. Lua was cloned using blood samples collected from her prior to her death, which “gave my family a second chance with a clone of our beloved dog.” “I love my animals,” Brady said. “They mean the world to me and my family. A few years ago, I worked with Colossal and leveraged their non-invasive cloning technology through a simple blood draw of our family’s elderly dog before she passed.” Also on Tuesday, Colossal announced it had acquired biotech company Viagen Pets and Equine, which previously cloned pets for celebrities including Paris Hilton and Barbra Streisand. Following the acquisition, Brady said he’s “excited how Colossal and Viagen’s tech together can help both families losing their beloved pets while helping to save endangered species,” according to People. Colossal was founded in Dallas, Texas, in 2021 by software entrepreneur Ben Lamm and biotech entrepreneur George Church, Ph.D., according to the company. Viagen, meanwhile, was founded in Austin, Texas, in 2002. The company spent two decades as the exclusive licensee of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer technology from the Roslin Institute of Edinburgh, which is popularly known for cloning the sheep named Dolly in 1996. Brady, an NFL broadcaster for Fox Sports, is widely considered the greatest football player of all-time. The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback played 23 seasons in the NFL from 2000-22, winning six Super Bowls with the Pats and one with the Bucs in addition to 15 Pro Bowl selections, five Super Bowl MVP awards and three regular season MVP awards. He is the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards, attempts, completions and touchdowns.
