chimera 1 An imaginary monster made up of incongruous parts. 2 In medicine, a person composed of two genetically distinct types of cells. This may be due to the fusion of two embryos at a very early (blastula) stage. More commonly today, the formation of a chimera is due to transplantation, such as when bone marrow from one person is used to reconstitute the bone marrow of an irradiated recipient. 3 A viral, bacterial, or other cell that seems to be composed of two genetically distinct strains, as might be seen when genetic engineering techniques are used to enclose therapeutic properties from one cell in another type of cell for delivery.

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