- The Frozen Ark Office The Consortium is being coordinated within the School of Biology at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. Here the Charity is based, the web site and database are being developed, and the Taxon Strategy Groups are being established. It is also the centre for communication between members of the Consortium, and for fund-raising.
- The DNA Laboratory This laboratory will study how best to collect and preserve the DNA of endangered animals. Various methods of preservation will be tested, including freezing, freeze-drying, preserving in ethanol, and storing as dried samples.
- The Database It has a dual role, to gather information about suitably preserved material held worldwide, and to produce a global list of animals needing to be sampled. The list will be open to all interested professionals, via the Frozen Ark web page.
The
Natural History Museum, London
- Storage The Museum will prepare and store the frozen, freeze-dried and dried collections for the UK. The Museum will preserve any samples offered to the Frozen Ark and will store duplicates to back up collections held elsewhere.
- Collection Museum staff will collect samples from endangered species as part of their worldwide programme. They will help collecting-expeditions that originate elsewhere with equipment.
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.
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.
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.
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.