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Events

We convene meetings  — large and small, public and private — to help advance and cohere the field of genetic rescue and de-extinction.

Stem Cell Workshop

September 17-20, 2023  /  La Jolla, California

Stem cell technology is a promising addition to the conservation toolkit. To stimulate much needed advances in this area, Revive & Restore convened 45 global leaders in stem cell science. Their mission was to identify opportunities and challenges for bringing stem cell technologies to wildlife conservation. Over the course of the 3-day workshop, experts were paired in collaborative exercises to reimagine the future of wildlife conservation.

Intended Consequences Workshop

June 21–June 24, 2020, Online

Revive & Restore convened 57 participants from around the world to examine conservation interventions. Participants shared their perspectives on successes and lessons learned, scientific nuance, and public perception. This workshop shaped the ongoing Intended Consequences Initiative.

iGEM 2019

October 31–November 4, 2019, Boston, Massachusetts

Revive & Restore attended the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) —a 4-day synthetic biology competition for high school and college students. Our time there helped us prepare the first Revive & Restore iGEM challenge for students in 2020.

Horseshoe Crab Press Event

May 10, 2018, Cape May, New Jersey

Together with the New Jersey Audubon Society, Eli Lilly and Company, and the First Lady of New Jersey Tammy Murphy, Revive & Restore announced new research that dispels many perceived barriers to the adoption of a safe synthetic alternative to horseshoe crab blood for biomedical testing.

Engineering Resilience Workshop

September 11–15, 2017, Heron Island, Australia

Together with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Revive & Restore held a four-day conference aimed at identifying synthetic biology solutions to conservation problems caused by environmental change.

International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress

September 1–10, 2016, Honolulu, Hawaii

To examine the potential role that new genomic tools could perform in wildlife conservation, Revive & Restore — with the support of National Geographic and the National Park Service — facilitated two important discussions at the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress.

See meeting report

New Genomic Solutions for Conservation Problems Workshop

April 6–9, 2015, Sausalito, California

This two-and-a-half-day workshop for 52 pioneering molecular biologists, conservation biologists, veterinarians, and other specialists, focused on finding practical solution paths for otherwise intractable conservation problems, which could be set in motion in the near future.

See meeting report

The Heath Hen Could Come Back

July 24, 2014, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts

An evening panel event suggesting to the community of Martha’s Vineyard the ambitious vision of bringing back the Island’s most famous bird and its former shrubland/grassland habitat.

See meeting report

TEDx De-Extinction Event

March 15, 2013, National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C. 

The first PUBLIC meeting on de-extinction took place on March 15, 2013, in Washington DC at National Geographic’s Grosvenor Auditorium. It was a TEDx extravaganza.

See meeting report
See TEDx Videos

De-Extinction Projects, Techniques, and Ethics

October 22–23, 2012, National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C

The National Geographic meeting in October 2012 drew 36 scientists from around the world to survey the full range of de-extinction and ecosystem-revival efforts that are being attempted. It was the first such meeting anywhere.

See meeting report

Bringing Back the Passenger Pigeon

February 8, 2012, Wyss Institute at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts

The first purpose of the daylong meeting was to explore the technical plausibility of reviving the iconic extinct bird, Ectopistes migratorius, through genomic engineering. The second purpose of the meeting was to explore the potential cultural, social, political, and ecological ramifications of bringing the passenger pigeon back to life and perhaps restoring it to the wild.

See meeting report