section_path: Research/Possible revival
section_name: Possible revival
paragraph_text: Possible revival
  
  The Australian Museum in Sydney began a cloning project in 1999. The goal was to use genetic material from specimens taken and preserved in the early 20th century to clone new individuals and restore the species from extinction. Several molecular biologists dismissed the project as a public relations stunt. In late 2002, the researchers had some success as they were able to extract replicable DNA from the specimens. On 15 February 2005, the museum announced that it was stopping the project. In May 2005, the project was restarted by a group of interested universities and a research institute.
  
  In August 2022, it was announced that the University of Melbourne would partner with Texas-based biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences to attempt to re-create the thylacine using its closest living relative, the fat-tailed dunnart, and return it to Tasmania. The university had recently sequenced the genome of a juvenile thylacine specimen and was establishing a thylacine genetic restoration laboratory. The research from the University of Melbourne was led by Andrew Pask. The project was regarded with scepticism by other, uninvolved scientists.