catalyst science fund

Coral, Ferrets and a Lot of Elephant Poop: 5 Years of the Revive & Restore Catalyst Science Fund

Posted on by Jordan Villanueva

“We are expanding the toolkit available for conservation,” says Bridget Baumgartner, Director of Research and Development at Revive & Restore. “We’re a technology-focused organization with a network of technology experts – we’re here to help make researchers in this space as successful as possible.”

Bridget manages the Catalyst Science Fund for the non-profit Revive & Restore. This program has awarded more than 70 grants to researchers applying biotechnology tools in a unique way to support genetic rescue of endangered or extinct species. The fund was launched in 2018 with a $3 million pledge from Promega, and this year celebrated its fifth anniversary. In that time, projects supported by the Catalyst Science Fund have cloned a black footed ferret, developed methods for analyzing population genetics of isolated elephant herds, and much more.

“The donation from Promega enabled us to demonstrate that this long-term ‘Go Big or Go Home’ approach can create new capabilities that are going to be high-impact for wildlife conservation,” Bridget says.

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Working in the Lab to Save Animals in the Wild

Posted on by Sara Klink
Asian elephants with babies in Planckendael zoo, Muizen near Mechelen, Flanders, Belgium. Image copyright: Ad Meskens [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)] via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife conservation is a major focus around the world. With habitat loss and climate change, Asian elephant populations are under severe pressure. Add in an infectious disease that is fatal to the young and you have a recipe for disaster. Even with efforts to breed the endangered Asian elephants in zoos to build the population, elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) thwarts conservation efforts. EEHV causes hemorrhagic disease in Asian elephants younger than 10 years old, a disease with rapid onset and high mortality. In fact, some numbers indicate EEHV is the cause of death for at least 25% of Asian elephants born in zoos and the wild globally.

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