Science Exchange enables completion of the Kakapo 125 Project

 

Science Exchange - Order experiments from the world's best service providers

Dear project supporters,

It's my pleasure to announce that thanks to Science Exchange our efforts to sequence the genomes of all known living kākāpō is now fully funded and heading for completion!

 

Hakateri the kākāpō

With your generous support we've sequenced 80 individuals to date. With Science Exchange's contribution we will sequence a further 90. This allows us to sequence not only the 125 individuals who were alive when the project began but all new chicks and some deceased individuals considered crucial to understanding kākāpō ancestry.

 

The Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics

The remaining sequencing will be completed by The Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics in Sydney, Australia; A top service provider in Science Exchange's network.

 

DNA portraits available in The Genetic Rescue Foundation's shop

If you wish to show further support for the project DNA portraits are available for each individual kākāpō in The Genetic Rescue Foundation's shop. Only one portrait will ever be made per bird.

 

Hope

Detailed genetic data for every individual in an entire species is a world first and represents a genomics-focused paradigm shift in modern conservation efforts. It is my hope that this data will steer kākāpō conservation decisions for years and decades to come. It may prove to be the deciding factor in saving this species.

I would like to thank all of the project collaborators especially Dr. Andrew Digby who first proposed the idea of sequencing all genomes in the entire species, Dr. Bruce Robertson who has tirelessly worked on sample preparation among other major contributions to kākāpō genomics and Dr. Jason Howard who is overseeing the sequencing as well as producing the primary reference genome.

 

The Kakapo 125 Collaborators

Finally I would like to thank all of the Experiment.com backers. The crowdfunding campaign was the starting point that built the momentum necessary to launch this ambitious and daunting endeavour.

My next update will be to announce the completion of the final round of sequencing and therefore the entire project. This update will include details of how you can use the data for your own non-profit research projects. I am so excited to see the discoveries this data is going to yield and I hope you all are as well!

Sincerely

David Iorns

Founder of Genetic Rescue 

See also - The full Science Exchange press release 

 

Viva kākāpō!