Cryobanking of viable biomaterials: implementation of new strategies for conservation purposes |
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| Authors: | DOMINIK LERMEN BRUNHILDE BLÖMEKE ROBERT BROWNE ANN CLARKE PAUL W. DYCE THOMAS FIXEMER GÜNTER R. FUHR WILLIAM V. HOLT KATARINA JEWGENOW RHIANNON E. LLOYD STEFAN LÖTTERS MARTIN PAULUS GORDON MCGREGOR REID DANIEL H. RAPOPORT DAVID RAWSON JENNIFER RINGLEB OLIVER A. RYDER GABRIELE SPÖRL THOMAS SCHMITT MICHAEL VEITH PAUL MÜLLER |
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| Affiliation: | Department for Biogeography,;Department for Environmental Toxicology, Trier University, D-54296 Trier, Germany,;Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, B-2018 Antwerp, Belgium,;The Frozen Ark Project, School of Biology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK;, Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1;, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering,D-66280 Sulzbach, Germany,;Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK,;Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, D-10252 Berlin, Germany,;North of England Zoological Society, Chester CH2 1LH, UK,;Fraunhofer Research Institution For Marine Biotechnology, D-23562 Lübeck, Germany,;LIRANS Institute of Research in Applied Natural Sciences, University of Bedfordshire, Luton LU2 8DL, UK;, Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species, Zoological Society of San Diego, Escondido, California 92027-7000, USA;, Institute for Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Dresden, D-01390 Dresden, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Cryobanking, the freezing of biological specimens to maintain their integrity for a variety of anticipated and unanticipated uses, offers unique opportunities to advance the basic knowledge of biological systems and their evolution. Notably, cryobanking provides a crucial opportunity to support conservation efforts for endangered species. Historically, cryobanking has been developed mostly in response to human economic and medical needs — these needs must now be extended to biodiversity conservation. Reproduction technologies utilizing cryobanked gametes, embryos and somatic cells are already vital components of endangered species recovery efforts. Advances in modern biological research (e.g. stem cell research, genomics and proteomics) are already drawing heavily on cryobanked specimens, and future needs are anticipated to be immense. The challenges of developing and applying cryobanking for a broader diversity of species were addressed at an international conference held at Trier University (Germany) in June 2008. However, the magnitude of the potential benefits of cryobanking stood in stark contrast to the lack of substantial resources available for this area of strategic interest for biological science — and society at large. The meeting at Trier established a foundation for a strong global incentive to cryobank threatened species. The establishment of an Amphibian Ark cryobanking programme offers the first opportunity for global cooperation to achieve the cryobanking of the threatened species from an entire vertebrate class. |
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| Keywords: | amphibian conservation conservation biology cryobanking endangered species genome resource bank viable biomaterials |
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