THIS IS A holding place, stockpiling the cells of Australia’s most threatened species for resurrection in a potentially desolate future – a frozen archive held in suspended animation as an insurance policy against biodiversity loss. Welcome to the Ian Potter Australian Wildlife Biobank – a final stronghold against Australia’s extinction crisis.
The biobank is like a “frozen zoo” within the Melbourne Museum that is cryogenically freezing live animal cells in a bid to preserve the genetic diversity of Australia’s unique wildlife. Scientists hope to one day reintroduce this genetic material back into wild populations through cloned lab-grown cells, to help boost a population’s genetic diversity – or even bring a species back from extinction.
“The idea behind this [the biobank] is being able to
