Austin company cloned Tom Brady's dog, Lua, who died in 2023

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Tom Brady revealed this week that his dog is a clone.

According to Today, Brady announced on Tuesday that his dog Junie is a clone of a previous family dog, Lua, who died in 2023.

Behind the dog cloning was Austin-based company Viagen Pets and Equine.

Brady's announcement coincided with the announcement that Viagen had been acquired by Colossal Biosciences, a biosciences company that has claimed to “de-extinct” animals. Brady is an investor in Colossal.

Viagen was founded in Austin in 2002. The company has previously cloned celebrities' pets, including those of Barbara Streisand and Paris Hilton, according to an article by People Magazine.

Colossal Biosciences called Viagen "the world’s leading cloning company" and said it has "successfully cloned 15 species."

According to Viagen's website, the company uses preserved cells from animals to clone them.

How pet cloning works

A cloned dog or cat is "simply an identical twin of the donor pet that is born at a later date," according to Viagen. The cloned pet shares the exact genetic identity of the donor pet, the same way naturally occurring identical twins share the same genes, Viagen noted.

Viagen has a video on its website that explains the cloning process, breaking it down into the following main steps:

• Genetic preservation: This is the process in which a vet collects a tissue sample
• Cell culture & storage: The tissue sample is then sent to Viagen, where scientists culture new cells containing the exact genetic makeup of the cells from the tissue sample. The new cells are then frozen for preservation.
• The cloning process: A preserved cell is fused with an egg from a donor, forming an embryo that "grows naturally" and is placed in a healthy surrogate mother. After a "normal pregnancy," the pet's genetic twin is born, according to Viagen.