Living fossils that have been around for 450 million years, Horseshoe Crabs may not survive our era because they are captured at a massive scale and bled for the biomedical industry. Because their blue blood being ultra-sensitive to infectious bacteria, the extracted blood is used to detect contamination in all vaccines and injectable drugs. An effective synthetic substitute has been developed but not deployed, so the capture of crabs continues needlessly. Revive & Restore is working to overcome corporate and government inertia to the synthetic alternative.

North American bat populations are declining due to White-Nose Syndrome, caused by the fungal pathogen, Pseudogymnoascus destructans. WNS is one of the most lethal diseases currently affecting wildlife, killing at least 6 million North American bats. Since its detection in 2006, infected populations have undergone a decline of up to 90 to 100% in some hibernation sites, and several species are threatened with extinction within the next decade. We are now working with the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to explore innovative solutions.

Because of climate change, disease-carrying mosquitoes are expanding their range to higher elevations each year, encroaching upon the last safe refuge of Hawaii’s native birds. These mosquitoes are bringing lethal avian malaria, pox, and other exotic diseases. Avian malaria and pox, introduced by invasive mosquitoes brought to Hawaii less than 200 hundred years ago, have caused the extinction of 34 bird species to date. Currently, just 30% of Hawaii’s native birds remain, and the majority of these species are threatened with extinction.

Twice feared extinct, the endangered Black-Footed Ferret has been the focus of a recovery effort for over thirty years. In 2013, Revive & Restore was invited by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to explore the potential use of genomic technologies to increase the genetic diversity. This year, with our commercial partner Intrexon, we submitted an application for a Recovery Permit under the Endangered Species Act to increase the genetic diversity and to research creating heritable resistance to sylvatic plague. With USFWS, we are satisfying regulatory requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.

A virulent strain of herpes kills up to a quarter of all young Asian elephants in the wild, a fact we learned while doing research on Asian elephants for our Woolly Mammoth de-extinction project with George Church and his Harvard lab. To date, no research team has been able to culture the virus from tissue samples, making it impossible to develop vaccines or treatments. The Church Lab is attempting to synthesize the virus in vitro from its sequenced genome in order to develop a version of the virus that can be cultured – the first step in finding a cure. This effort is one of the world’s first projects using synthetic biology to study and treat a wildlife disease. In other words, the mammoth de-extinction effort may confer significant, near-term benefits to Asian elephant conservation. We are pleased to report that the Church lab is making headway on sequencing the virus.

A rapidly spreading invasive fungus, “Rapid Ohi’a Death,” threatens a native Hawaiian tree, the ōhiʻa. About 75,000 acres currently show symptoms of the disease on Hawaiʻi Island. To create resistance, an RNAi topical spray can be applied to temporarily contain the spread of the fungus. This solution would require repeated application while more permanent solutions are developed. The same RNAi gene system could be delivered to adult Ohi’a trees through an injectable solution, acting as a genetic vaccine. Research would proceed to identify potentially naturally resistant trees, and genetic editing or cross-pollination would be used create heritable resistance.