Russian University Announces 'Noah's Ark' DNA Storage Project

A university in Moscow has announced plans to construct a massive DNA storage facility that would house genetic material for as many living and extinct organisms as researchers can get their hands on.

A representative from Moscow State University said in a statement that the massive zoological archive, planned for completion in 2018, will aim to cryogenically freeze genetic material of every known organism to ever call the Earth home, assuming DNA samples are available, according to Russian news outlet RT.

To complete the project, Moscow State University has been granted 1 billion rubles – or about $18 million, according to Bloomberg – in what is being called Russia’s largest scientific grant to date, This presumably, however, leaves out the Soviet Union's investments in a "space race" with the U.S. in the mid-20th century. The DNA project has fittingly been dubbed “Noah’s Ark.”

“It will involve the creation of a depository – a databank for the storing of every living thing on Earth, including not only living but disappearing and extinct organisms,” said Viktor Sadivnichy, Moscow State University’s rector, according to the New York Post. “If it’s realized, this will be a leap in Russian history as the first nation to create an actual Noah’s Ark of sorts.”

But that’s not entirely true. Noah’s Ark would sit in a league of its own if it managed to capture the genetic material of every being to have ever roamed the Earth, however it is not the first DNA storage facility of its kind.

Britain’s Frozen Ark holds tens of thousands of frozen samples of endangered species. And Washington’s National Museum of Natural History – the world’s largest biorepository – holds more than 4.2 million genetic samples, according to New York Daily News.

A massive collection of organic material wouldn’t even be a first inside of Russia alone. The country already holds a cryogenic storage facility containing at least 1.5 million plant and vegetable seeds, according to Britain’s Daily Mail.