Advanced Coral Toolkit

Geographic Scope: International (focus on coral reef ecosystems globally)

Mission: To support the development and field testing of new biotechnologies that have the potential to greatly benefit coral resilience and restoration efforts.

Background: Dedicated funding program supporting innovative coral conservation technologies. Work funded through this program has been featured in major media outlets including PBS News.

Focus Areas:

• Coral cryopreservation and preservation technologies
• Isochoric vitrification (cryopreservation technique that preserves coral polyps in a glass-like state)
• Coral resilience to climate change
• Coral bleaching prevention and mitigation
• Genomic stress trigger research
• Field testing of new biotechnologies for coral restoration

Key Example Project: Isochoric vitrification technology funded through the program preserves coral fragments, allowing thousands of coral species to be stored in a single cryo tank for years at a time. Scientists at Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute have demonstrated this technology can do what other conservation methods cannot.

Goals:

• Make coral preservation technology inexpensive and easy to use
• Enable average professionals to perform preservation techniques
• Support grassroots adoption of coral conservation technology
• Address global coral reef crisis (more than two-thirds of corals on the Great Barrier Reef have bleached)