Meet Roku and Hex.

Cute. Fuzzy. And scientifically incredible.

They’re two of three monkeys that are a result of stem cell research conducted at the Oregon National Primate Research Center – the world’s first chimera monkeys.

“This paper shows the ability of early embryonic stem cells to develop and form a whole organism,” said OHSU researcher Shoukhrat Mitalipov.

It’s the first study of its kind to be done on primates, and points to a new strategy for cloning.

Rather than using embryonic stem cells cultured from lines of cells grown in petri dishes, researchers took early-stage stem cells directly from six monkey embryos and implanted them into each other, creating genetically mixed embryos.

The mixed embryos were then implanted in female monkeys, and three chimeras were born with up to six genetic lines in their system.

The work could advance stem cell therapies for failing organs and other human illnesses.

“We hope that someday we’ll be able to make mature tissues and transplant to patients that have diseases caused by a lack of those cells,” said Mitalipov.

The results were published by the journal Cell.