The University of Melbourne has just received $5 million in funding to establish a new research lab dedicated to resurrecting the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), as well as marsupial conservation.
The new lab, the Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research (TIGRR) Lab, will be headed up by biosciences professor Andrew Pask.
In the past, says Pask, “we could never propose to do something as big as bringing back a Tassie tiger, simply because we wouldn’t have had the funding or the longevity of funding to achieve such a big goal”.
“But this philanthropic donation has now given us that scope that we can actually really have a bloody good go at trying to achieve this.”
But how will it work? And what are the risks?