A "game-changing" conservation project at the University of Canberra could save endangered species on the brink of extinction.
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Focusing on amphibians and reptiles, researchers at the university are working with Danish tropical zoo Randers Regnskov and two universities in the Scandanavian country.
Their goal is to grow cells in flasks under controlled conditions and use them to develop cell lines, which they will then freeze and preserve in a practice known as biobanking.
Lead researcher Professor Tariq Ezaz is taking it a step further, using the cell lines with in vivo cloning technology.
Professor Ezaz said the project represented the future of animal conservation, with the potential to grow stem cells into any type of cell, and program cells to produce sperm.
He said this could help support struggling species on the brink of extinction, with a rare amphibian, the green and golden bell frog, one of the species researchers hoped to develop cell lines from.
"The number of those in the wild is very few, but researchers have breeding colonies across different research labs," Dr Ezaz said.
"This is one of the iconic species that we are going to have cell lines from."
The project is focusing on amphibian and reptile cell lines because of the sheer number of conservation issues affecting them.
Dr Ezaz said habitat destruction and pathogens like chytrid fungus had had devastating impacts on frogs worldwide, which often made finding viable specimens difficult.
He said it had been particularly challenging to establish cell lines from amphibians, because while they initially grew from small tissue pieces, they died when moved from flask to flask.
"We don’t yet know why, and that’s a challenge we want to overcome," Dr Ezaz said.
University of Canberra PhD student Julie Strand, who manages the conservation biobank at Randers Regnskov, described the project as "insurance of sorts" for endangered species.
“The more threatened a species, the more important to preserve its genetic diversity," she said.
“Biobanking should be seen as a way to manage small populations by storing genetic diversity while it is still high.
"If needed, you will be able to reintroduce the stored genes.”
Dr Ezaz said while the project would have wide-reaching conservation impacts, he did not want to limit its potential.
"We want to open it up to researchers across the globe, if they want to use this for any other purposes," Dr Ezaz said, noting that cell lines could replace live animals in various types of testing.
