[ECOLOG-L] seeking help finding a cryopreservation program for an extinct species

[Bruce Turner]

Dear Colleagues (with apologies for duplicate postings):



*PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO OTHER LISTS AS YOU THINK APPROPRIATE*:



I am asking for help in locating active tissue/cell line cryopreservation
programs for endangered species.  The extant population of the Catarina
Pupfish, *Megupsilon apodus*, now consists solely of two males at the
Dallas aquarium; the single known natural population was wiped out in the
1990’s. The species is essentially already extinct. I have been trying to
find a program that would be interested in establishing and preserving cell
lines or even simply storing tissue samples from one or both of the last
surviving individuals.   I thought I had located one such program
associated with the San Diego zoo.  What follows is the text of an e-mail I
sent that program on 6 October:


“San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research
15600 San Pasqual Valley Road
Escondido, California 92027

The unique “Catarina Pupfish,” *Megupsilon aporus*, is now effectively
extinct, because the captive refugium population previously maintained by
the Dallas Aquarium now consists of two males and 0 females. The single
known natural population, confined to a single spring in central Mexico,
was wiped out in the early 1990’s when the habitat was completely
destroyed, and the two Dallas individuals are the last representatives of
the species on the planet.

 I am therefore asking if your “frozen zoo” program would be interested in
adding biological material from *M. apodus* to your collection.  Assuming
that is the case, I would appreciate it if you would let me know the steps
that need to be taken so that this may be accomplished.  I am not well
versed in tissue culture and related techniques, but I suspect that the
technology does exist to derive cell lines from the extant animals and
cryopreserve them.  Put more simply, we need to know just what to do next.

 It is my understanding that the surviving two *M. apodus* males will
shortly be in the possession of Dr. Chris Martin at Berkeley.  He is
planning to attempt to hybridize them with females of a related
species, *Cyprinodon
alverezi *(which has been accomplished by others in the past*) *and hopes
to eventually to use new genome editing tools to selectively remove the *C.
alverezi* genes from the hybrid lineage.  I believe that it will very
likely be possible for him to take tissue samples (perhaps from fin clips)
from one or both males that could be used to initiate cell lines.

 Among the many ways in which *M. apodus* is unusual or unique is its
multiple sex chromosome system, which was the first example to be described
in vertebrates.  While similar systems have subsequently been described in
other fish species, the enormous Y chromosome of *M. apodus* has no known
equivalent, and it should be of great interest to students of sex
chromosome evolution.  Even if the species itself cannot be restored by
contemporary conservation efforts, it would be extremely worthwhile to
preserve its cells so that its Y chromosome will be available to
cytogeneticists in the future. “


This e-mail has thus far elicited no response.  While I do realize that
only a few days have passed since I sent it, I would have thought that the
obvious urgency of the situation would have merited at least a formal
acknowledgement of receipt.  I am concerned that my information may not be
correct, or that I addressed it to the wrong person, and that precious time
may be wasted.  Consequently, I’m asking for help in locating other
programs and/or finding the proper routes to approach them, or in
networking that might lead to these goals.  Any help would be greatly
appreciated.


Bruce Turner

Re: [ECOLOG-L] Recent PhDs on Food Stamps - Overwhelmed with Replies

[Bruce Turner]

This is a painful, poignant but necessary discussion that academic
biologists in general need to keep in mind.  I would add another question:
how many retirees academic biology retirees are living (partially) on food
stamps as well..? I know a couple in just my own area.  At first, to many
on this list, this question will probably seem of less interest than the
others.  After all, retirees have presumably had fulfilling careers and
ended them voluntarily, right?  Not necessarily.  Post-tenure reviews of
various types are in place at a large number of institutions (here in
Virginia, for instance, state-run institutions literally HAD to put such a
system in place in the 1990's in order to save the tenure system itself).
The threat of going through such a process, particularly in public, is a
clear-cut motivation for (unwanted and unplanned) early retirement as an
alternative...

Yet, as biologist age, very often so do their research careers; despite
their best efforts, the funding dries to a trickle,  any new grad students
they might attract need to be supported by departmental rather than grant
monies (and it doesn't take a genius to guess how long that lasts, or how
much ill will it engenders).  Eventually, pressure develops to find a way
to get so-and-so quietly out the door, in favor of a young investigator
with a more fashionable research topic...  So, so-and-so retires, still
with more potentially productive research (and teaching) years left that
now will remain untapped, and often years earlier than his/her financial
retirement planning had projected.  This is happening now, and I predict it
will happen with increasing frequency in the near-term future as both
academic departments and granting agencies concentrate their enthusiasm on
the few younger investigators who make it through the obstacle course.

Young people who have found their calling and see themselves on a
trajectory toward a career in academic biology need to know that this can
happen. Just like they need to know that they may not get that critical
first job no matter how long they persevere, and may come to consider
themselves lucky to get a third or a fourth postdoc.  Just like they need
to know that, even if they get that first job, in many departments they had
better come up with major funding by the middle of their third year or
there likely won't be a fourth.

Perhaps there is a simpler way to put this:  We have to make sure that the
young people entering our profession, a pool that, by definition, includes
our best and most creative intellects, really understand that a doctoral
degree, no matter how expensively earned in terms of personal costs, and no
matter how strongly emblematic of a deep and abiding personal commitment,
is, when all is said and done, (and with apologies for the cliche) nothing
more than a union card.   It is not a guarantee of a job, financial
security, a particular lifestyle, the certainty of a life devoted to
creativity and scholarship or even of a secure retirement.


On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 10:20 AM, John A. omnipithe...@yahoo.com wrote:

 I've already received many, many replies in the first 48 hours since I
 posted my request.  I've heard from more people than I can easily
 count--recent Ph.D.s, graduate students, even undergraduates with difficult
 stories of hard work, perseverance, and increasing despair that they will
 ever find work in the disciplines they've trained for.

 I will do my best to respond to everyone who's contacted me; if you
 haven't heard from me yet, it's only because there are so many others who
 have also poured out their fears and their frustrations.  There are a great
 many people in our field who have found their calling, earned their degree,
 and now can find no way to support themselves--the invisible and
 disregarded of modern academia.

 Because many of you have expressed concerns about privacy, let me say
 that I won't share names, affiliations or any other identifying details
 unless the individuals involved grant their permission.  If you or a friend
 have been hesitating out of personal concerns, please know that I consider
 every contact a confidence, and I don't intend to break that trust.


   - J. A.