Faculty’s IVF lab advancing towards artificial rhino conservation technologies with San Diego Zoo Global

Abstract

An important week-long international visit in February to the Faculty’s In Vitro Fertility Laboratory (IVF) has paved the way for more extensive collaboration with San Diego Zoo Global as part of the International Rhino Reproduction Collaborative (IRRC). An IRRC-MOU, primarily drafted by the University of Pretoria and San Diego Global was officially signed in early 2019. The focus of the visit by the San Diego Zoo team and other members of the IRRC was rhino semen collection and cryopreservation, oocyte pick-up, and streamlining of IVF media preparation and Intracellular Sperm Injection techniques.