By decoding the DNA of species, genome sequencing reveals a deeper understanding of their potential for climate adaptation, disease resistance, reproductive potential, and long-term survival. Genome sequencing is a foundational tool for building evidence-based strategies for genetic rescue in wildlife species.

Here at Revive & Restore, we use genome sequencing to build baselines for our genetic rescue efforts.

This year, we announced two new cohorts of Wild Genomes awardees, in partnership with Morris Animal Foundation, bringing the portfolio up to 32 projects applying genome sequencing to conservation. Wild Genomes is a global funding program for applied sequencing projects. This year’s awardees had two focal areas: amphibians and kelp forest ecosystems.

By preserving living cells, biobanking offers a safeguard for the genetic diversity of vulnerable species. Biobanking also provides a foundation for more advanced genetic rescue technologies and can reveal genetic strategies to mitigate disease and climate change. Our goal is to make biobanking standard practice in conservation to protect genetic diversity before it’s lost.

In 2023, we launched a groundbreaking initiative to biobank U.S. endangered species, in partnership with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. As a proof of concept, we set a bold objective to sequence and biobank cell lines for 25 U.S. endangered mammals, and we are nearing completion as we close out 2023. 

In 2023, a team of scientists, funded by Revive & Restore, developed the first successful technique for cryopreserving and reviving entire coral fragments. The technique is a breakthrough in the fight to protect the world’s coral reefs from climate change.

The new cryopreservation method opens the door to collecting and preserving coral fragments easily and rapidly at an urgent moment for coral worldwide. “Our goal is to cryopreserve as many species of coral as possible by 2030,” explains Dr. E Michael Henley, one of the project leads, “At a time when climate change is moving so fast, this gives us an amazing ability to stop time here in the 2020s.”

This breakthrough was achieved by Mary Hagedorn and E. Michael Henley at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Matt Powell-Palm at Texas A&M University and Boris Rubinsky at the University of California, Berkeley.

When a species declines toward extinction, it loses genetic diversity accumulated over eons through evolution. But using reproductive technologies, like cloning, conservationists can reach into the past and recover that lost genetic diversity. When clones grow up and reproduce, it is a literal second life for lost genes.

In 2023, Revive & Restore and its partners welcomed a second cloned Przewalski’s horse, named “Ollie” in honor of Dr. Oliver Ryder at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Frozen Zoo. Ollie’s birth is a historic milestone, marking the first time EVER that a second viable clone of an endangered species was produced.

Stem cells are like a blank canvas – pliable cells that can be programmed to become any type of cell in the body. They are simple to cryopreserve and replicate indefinitely. Stem cells allow biobanks to transform tissue samples into a limitless supply of valuable biological material, like sperm and eggs.

In 2023, we hosted a global workshop to accelerate stem cell technologies for wildlife conservation. Over three days in an intensive workshop-meets-conference format, 45 leaders from across science, industry, zoos and conservation met to reimagine the future of stem cell technologies for wildlife.

Our 2023 Stem Cell Workshop provided a 3-day intensive event for 45 global participants. The event featured a range of talks designed to expose participants to diverse applications for stem cell technology within conservation. 

During the event, participants were divided into 3 teams and tasked with the creation of a single ‘Big Idea’ to change the future of conservation via stem cell technologies. Each team presented their Big Idea on the last night of the event.

Currently, we are fundraising to actualize the Big Ideas that were conceived during the workshop. In 2023, we received over $100,000 to kickstart our Stem Cell Research Fund. Your tax-deductible donation can help us expand stem cell technologies for wildlife!