From Cosmos (29/3/24)…
Museum’s zombie lab is preserving biodiversity
A subterranean vault within Melbourne Museum contains millions of cryogenically frozen living cells.
The unusual collection includes some 50,000 samples of blood, feathers, tail tips and ear snips from mammals, reptiles, birds and marine creatures, all carefully preserved in 2mL tubes.
Like a safe deposit box for biodiversity, the Ian Potter Australian Wildlife BioBank – is like an insurance policy against the threat of extinction.
Professor Andrew Pask from the University of Melbourne – which is partnering with Museums Victoria Research Institute on the initiative preserving living cells – says Australia’s amazing biodiversity is constantly under threat from habitat loss, introduced species and adverse weather events like floods, bushfires and extreme storms.
“Australia has such precious and unique wildlife that we really need to be biobanking everything that we possibly can,” he says.
Once cryogenically frozen, those living cells can be used to bring species back later on, using standard cloning techniques, he says.
