Overview
- Announced at the World Governments Summit, the Colossal BioVault and World Preservation Lab will be housed at Dubai’s Museum of the Future as a public-facing conservation facility.
- The project begins by banking tissue from 100 at-risk species, with a stated long-term target of more than one million samples representing over 10,000 species.
- Visitors will be able to watch scientists receive field samples, sequence DNA, and cryopreserve cells, with education programs planned to raise awareness of biodiversity loss.
- Funding is described as a nine-figure initiative, but coverage conflicts on the UAE’s initial contribution—reported as $60 million by some outlets and $60 billion by at least one—with no resolution yet from the parties.
- Colossal says the Dubai site is intended as the first node in a distributed global BioVault network, with a preview shown at the summit and an exhibition expected to open later this year followed by a permanent lab next year.