A recent Nature article, entitled "My Moonshot to Preserve Endangered Species," shines a spotlight on Mary Hagedorn, PhD, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute cryobiologist, and her bold vision to create a lunar biorepository safeguarding Earth’s biodiversity. The article underscores the central role of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Advanced Technologies for the Preservation of Biological Systems (ATP-Bio) — a Consortium member center — in driving these groundbreaking ideas.
The article also features insights from John Bischof, PhD, Director of ATP-Bio and Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota; Mehmet Toner, PhD, Deputy Director of ATP-Bio and Helen Andrus Benedict Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Harvard Medical School; and Susan Wolf, JD, Consortium Chair, Regents Professor, and McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy at the University of Minnesota and Co-Lead for Ethics & Public Policy at ATP-Bio. Together, their perspectives illustrate ATP-Bio’s unique strength: uniting cutting-edge science with social responsibility and visionary applications.