How can we turn the tide on species loss and help biodiversity and bioabundance flourish for millennia to come?
2023 Long Now Foundation Seminar
Bringing Biotech to Wildlife Conservation
About the talk
In this presentation, Ryan Phelan, Founder & Executive Director of Revive & Restore, reflects on the remarkable journey of Revive & Restore over the past 10 years. She showcases new and on-going programs, including efforts to cryopreserve coral, advance reproductive technologies, and apply genomics to ecosystem restoration. Ryan’s talk is a tribute to our collective efforts with scientists around the world and unwavering commitment to ecological restoration.
Please join us in celebrating 10 years of progress! Watch the full talk below:
Filmed on April 4, 02023 at Club Fugazi in San Francisco, California
Since our launch, Revive & Restore has collaborated with many of the world’s leading conservation scientists and organizations to develop genetic rescue projects. Together, we are forging new paths to save, sustain, and restore bioabundance in our changing world.
Explore our talk highlights below:
Genetic rescue in black-footed ferrets
Discover our efforts to restore genetic diversity in endangered black-footed ferrets. Meet collaborator Seth Willey from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, who sparked our first conservation cloning project.
Cryopreserving coral diversity
Explore our efforts to safeguard coral diversity. Meet collaborator Dr. Mary Hagedorn from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, who is advancing cryopreservation methods for coral.
Managing elephant populations via genomics
Discover our efforts to advance genomics for population management. Meet collaborator Dr. Andrew Tighe from the University College Dublin, who is helping save an isolated elephant population in Kenya.
Fighting seastar disease via genomics
Explore our work to help fight wildlife disease. Meet collaborator Dr. Michael Dawson from the University of California, Merced, who is using seastar genomics to track resistance to the rapidly spreading seastar wasting disease.
Advancing bird reproductive technologies
Discover our efforts to advance reproductive technologies for birds. Meet collaborator Dr. Erich Jarvis from The Rockefeller University, who is helping “crack the egg” on biotechnologies that can save endangered birds.
Coral reef management using genomics and traditional knowledge
Discover our efforts to create tools for coral reef management. Meet collaborator John Rulmal, Jr. from One People, One Reef, who is merging technological and traditional approaches to reef management.
Rewilding via gene-edited American Chestnut Trees
Meet the team re-wilding eastern forests with gene-edited American Chestnut Trees. While this is not a project of Revive & Restore, it has formed a model for our work for the last 10 years.
Synthetic alternatives to horseshoe crab blood
Meet collaborator Jay Bolden from Eli Lilly, who is working on the front lines of synthetic alternatives to horseshoe crab blood. While synthetic alternatives have long existed, Revive & Restore helps champion their adoption.
Talk Q&A
Ryan is joined by forecaster and Long Now Board Member Paul Saffo for the Q&A to discuss long-term outcomes and the Intended Consequences framing used by Revive & Restore.
Why this work matters
To turn the tide on biodiversity loss, we need every available tool.
Biotechnology can be used to enhance genetic diversity, build disease resistance, and facilitate adaptation to our rapidly changing world. By developing a new Genetic Rescue Toolkit, Revive & Restore is helping to address conservation challenges in ways never before possible.
