15-07-2025
Wildlife biotech researcher leaves cutting-edge legacy
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is saddened by the sudden passing of a former colleague and a leader in the use of assisted reproductive technology for wildlife conservation, Dr Paul Bartels.
Bartels was born on February 22 in 1956, and passed away on July 9.
Bartels' research work was considered of strategic importance, resulting in the Wildlife Biological Research Centre moving from the EWT to the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria under the National Research Foundation. It later became the National Wildlife Biobank under the South African National Biodiversity Institute in Pretoria.
Based at the National Zoological Gardens campus in Pretoria, SANBI Biobank is an international institution with samples from over 40 countries.
He initiated the Save Magaliesberg Species Project in partnership with the Wildlife and Environment Society of SA, and volunteers and students of the Tshwane University of Technology's Department of Nature Conservation.
Eleanor Momberg, spokesperson for the Trust, said that Bartels was a pioneer in this cutting-edge field, that merges science and conservation by aiming to futureproof the genetic composition of captive and wild gene pools when wildlife populations may not be able to do this naturally.
'His vision led to the establishment of the first wildlife biobank in Africa. The Wildlife Biological Resource Centre was established in 1996 as a working group within the trust. The centre was dedicated to the collection, processing, banking, use, and distribution of wildlife biomaterials for biodiversity conservation and biotechnology development.'
Starting from humble beginnings as a small research project based out of the Tompi Seleka Agricultural College in the former Lebowa (Limpopo), where he worked as a wildlife veterinarian and lecturer in animal health, the project quickly grew.
The project provided a learning platform for students from across the globe and spearheaded the development of biotech to safely and effectively collect, store and potentially reuse the reproductive materials of wildlife species such as lions, buffalo, eland, bontebok, blesbok, elephant and rhino.
In 1998, the centre made global history with the birth of the world's first artificially inseminated wildlife baby, an eland female called Graca, after South Africa's then first lady.
Graca was conceived via artificial insemination using the sperm that had been collected post-mortem from an eland bull that had died four hours before semen collection.
The semen was then frozen and used over a year later to inseminate an eland cow at the Johannesburg Zoo. Graca made history by showing the world that the genetics from wild species can still play a role in maintaining genetic diversity, even after the donor animal has died before collection.
He also used his 25 years' experience in wildlife tissue banking to found a company to produce meat in a laboratory that would contribute to food security.
As an avid entrepreneur, he founded WildBio Co, which uses cutting-edge scientific research and innovation to produce cell lines for wildlife conservation, food security and novel product development; and later CryoWild, a non-profit organisation.
WildBio developed the world's largest African species biobank for accelerating the development of the biomedical, food tech and biotech industries.
He was recently appointed as a research fellow at Stellenbosch University's Department of Animal Science, where he led cutting-edge work in cellular agriculture biobanking, as well as serving as a lecturer in wildlife management at the Tshwane University of Technology.
'Paul worked for the EWT for more than a decade, and we are deeply saddened by the loss of this visionary leader in biotech and wildlife conservation.
'We are, however, eternally grateful for the legacy he leaves in the form of cutting-edge science, dozens of empowered and highly trained scientists, an African wildlife biobank and leading science.
'All of this can be used to save wildlife, support ethically and sustainably food security and secure the genetic diversity and future of dozens of threatened African wildlife species,' closed Momberg.
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