REAL-TIME GENETIC DIAGNOSTICS BY ANYONE, ANYWHERE, AT ANYTIME
Every year, millions of tons of seafood, timber, and wildlife products are trafficked illegally, often disguised in processed form. Genetic analysis is not readily available in the places where it is most needed: in the field.
To date, genetic analysis is not:
Easily accessible by those who need it
Able to be performed without a fully equipped lab and technical training
Affordable enough to be put to regular use
By providing conservationists with genetic testing on the front lines, the NABIT can address the underlying drivers of extinction to prevent seafood fraud, illegal fishing, wildlife trafficking, the spread of disease, and more.
AS SEEN IN
The NABIT
(Nucleic Acid Barcode Identification Tool)
is a low-cost, hand-held, field-ready automated tool to validate the identity of a wildlife or food product, anywhere in the world, without specialized training, equipment, reagents, or even continuous power.
INTRODUCING THE NABIT
To empower those on the front lines of conservation, Conservation X Labs has built an innovative tool that places the power of a genetics lab in anyone’s hand. The NABIT (Nucleic Acid Barcode Identification Tool) is a low-cost, hand-held, field-ready automated tool to validate the identity of a wildlife or food product, anywhere in the world, without specialized training, equipment, reagents, or even continuous power.
+ Protect Animal Health
+ Monitor ecosystems
+ Detect pathogens
The NABIT will empower a huge array of people – customs agents, border officers, fisheries inspectors, scientists, conservationists, consumers, even everyday citizens – to confirm a species identity without a lab or expertise. Knowing within minutes whether something is an endangered species – or a mislabeled fish, or an invasive species, or a crop pest – is critical to protect biodiversity on our planet.
Meet the team
Molecular Innovations Director, David Baisch, and Lead Conservation Product Engineer, Dr. Hal Holmes, display an early prototype of the NABIT.
The Thylacine Biosciences team is developing the NABIT in our Molecular Innovations Lab in Seattle, Washington. From top left: Paul Bunje, Gareth Fotouhi, Alex Dehgan, Cifeng Fang, Hal Holmes, Jackie Mercader, David Baisch, and Misa Winters.
Awards
The NABIT was one of six technologies awarded as a leading innovation in conservation through the Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prize, winning in the “Prevention of Wildlife Poaching and Trafficking” category. The winners were announced September 20, 2022. Along with $100,000 in prize money, the Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prize Advisory Council will advise our team on opportunities to pilot and implement our technology, and help develop partnerships with conservation organizations, federal or state agencies, federally recognized Tribes, private entities and research institutions with relevant expertise or interest.
Dr. Hal Holmes, Lead Conservation Product Engineer at Conservation X Labs, was awarded an inaugural Schmidt Science Fellowship (2018) to drive the development of a new DNA extraction platform to address difficult sample types at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Holmes was also selected as one of five Moore Inventor Fellows (2018) by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support his work on the NABIT.
To learn more about these honors, visit the 2018 Moore Inventor Fellows announcement and the Schmidt Science Fellows website.
