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Endangered Snail



The Consortium

The Frozen Ark Consortium is a worldwide group of institutions devoted to saving the DNA and frozen cells of animal species for the long term.  The institutions are listed below: 
 

The University of Nottingham

The Natural History Museum, London  

The Zoological Society of London  

The Institute of Zoology is overseeing the collection, preparation and storage of viable cells from endangered zoo animals. Under veterinary supervision, it will obtain samples of viable cells from other sources. 
 

The Animal Gene Resource Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia 

For many years this centre has been carrying out a large programme of cell and tissue collection and storage, similar to that now started at the Zoological Society of London. 

The Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES), Hyderabad, India 

This laboratory, recently opened by the President of India, is a major development that aims to support species in the sub-continent that are seriously endangered by the destruction of habitats and, in the case of larger animals, poaching.  The laboratory is preserving semen, eggs and embryos of endangered species and frozen tissue for DNA and other molecules.  It has successfully developed non-invasive methods to obtain DNA and to collect semen from endangered species. 

Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES), The Zoological Society of San Diego, California, USA

San Diego has already established 'The Frozen Zoo', a large collection of samples from zoo animals, many of which are endangered. 

The Ambrose Monell Laboratory, The American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA 

This laboratory has a very large collection of frozen material, not originally directed to endangered species, but containing many such samples. 

The Wildlife Biological Resource Centre, Endangered Wildlife Trust, The National Zoo, Pretoria, South Africa 

This laboratory is devoted to collecting frozen samples from endangered African species. 

The North of England Zoological Society, Chester, UK  

Chester Zoo holds living animals of several hundred endangered species.  It plans to obtain material from all these animals. 

Cryobiology Research Group, Luton Institute of Research in the Applied Natural Sciences , University of Bedfordshire, Luton, UK 

The Cryobiology Research Group at LIRANS has recently established the Cryo-Conservation Facility for the cryo-banking of tissues of fish native to the UK and its surrounding waters. Whilst the cryo-bank will seek to hold tissue samples of as wide a range of native fish species, there will also be a strong focus on endangered species. It is envisaged that material from endangered species will include duplicates of cryo-banked material held in other facilities world-wide, and that LIRANS will take a lead role in co-ordinating the collection and banking of such specimens.

The cryo-conservation facility has dedicated -196oC (liquid nitrogen) storage Dewars, and -80oC storage freezers, and benefits from the state of the art facilities of the cryobiology research group at LIRANS which include cryo-microscopy, controlled slow cooling and vitrification equipment, micro-manipulation, and cell culture. The cryobiology research group has been engaged in cryo-preservation studies on fish gametes, embryos, isolated blastomeres and cell lines for over 15 years. LIRANS will be relocating to a purpose built dedicated research facility in September 2007, with increased accommodation for cryobiology research and the cryo-conservation facility. 

For further information please contact:

Prof. Dr. David Rawson (david.rawson@beds.ac.uk) or Prof. Dr. Tiantian Zhang (tiantian.zhang@beds.ac.uk), LIRANS, University of Bedfordshire, Park Square, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 3JU.

The Reproductive Biology Unit, Perth Zoo, Western Australia

This unit, set up in 2005, has started collecting samples from endangered animals in Perth zoo’s captive breeding programmes and general collections.  Post mortem and fresh tissues, including somatic, fibroblast, and gonadal cells, are being cryo-preserved.  A breeding programme for endangered Australian species, such as the Sandhill Dunnart and the Nurse Shark, is under way.  

The New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine, Auckland Zoological Park, New Zealand 

The NZCCM currently maintains a frozen tissue and serum bank holding samples from both New Zealand native and non-native species.  It is constructing a new facility to house its collection which is due for completion this year.  It will include a cryogenic freezer to hold up to 21,600 samples.  The collection will include both threatened endemic species and the endangered exotic ones.