Technology adds a tenth life to endangered cats
Endangered species are set to have a better future thanks to the test tubes of Indian PhD student Rajneesh Verma.
In a novel approach to conservation, Mr Verma is generating embryonic stem-like cells, from a small tissue sample taken from the ear of four endangered cat species – creating the opportunity to protect a wide range of threatened animals from extinction.
“Cats are supposed to have nine lives, but with all the threats currently facing endangered wild cats, we wanted to give them a tenth!” Mr Verma said.
“I was willing to start the project without a scholarship, because I believed this technology needed to be explored to save these species. Fortunately, with the support of Professor Bryan Williams, Director of Monash Institute of Medical Research, I received an institute scholarship to conduct this exciting work.” Mr Verma said.
Mr Verma worked with a small zoo at Mogo, in rural Australia, to take an ear punch from an adult Bengal tiger, snow leopard, jaguar and serval. Using his extensive experience working in animal reproductive laboratories, Mr Verma used the ear cells to create embryonic stem-like cells at Monash Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne.
“Once embryonic stem-like cells are created, they can be use as a donor cell to increase the efficiency of cloning or can be matured into eggs or sperm – making them essential building blocks for assisted reproductive technologies,” Mr Verma said.
Mr Verma moved from India to Australia to undertake a Bachelor degree in biotechnology. He completed a Master of Science degree researching rice plants at the University of Sydney before working on plant and animal cloning in a succession of laboratories.
The arrival of children triggered Mr Verma’s recollection of his love of tigers – and his sadness at the demise of the mighty cat species.
“I loved tigers as a child. In India when I was younger we went to the jungles a lot. I was always excited, hoping to see a tiger and we did a couple of times but they ran away,” Mr Verma said.
“People are trying to save the habitat but poachers are still there, so we need a new solution. No one has successfully used assisted reproduction for tigers, leopard and jaguar, but I had to give it a go. Hopefully, in future I would be able to use these cells to help preserve these wild cats.
“To me, science is about taking a risk to find new horizons – it’s not about being safe.
“This project was an opportunity to do something for the wild cats, but something for India as well, because tigers are such an important animal in India. It also gave me the chance to pat some tigers. I think I had a better experience patting the tigers than doing the whole PhD!”
Mr Verma hopes to continue working with this technology on endangered species in future so that a broad range of species can be given assistance to thrive.
