Taking Aim at Poaching with Tissue Engineering

Growing on a plastic dish, the stem cells don’t look like much. Widely spaced, with jagged borders, they resemble distantly separated islands under the bright light of a microscope. But Garrett Vygantas believes cells like these could save the rhinoceros from extinction. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have the ability to mature into any type of cell in the body. Vygantas’s company, Ceratotech, is experimenting with growing rhino horns from iPS cells. He’s among a handful of scientists who are biofabricating mimics of rhino horn and elephant ivory to drive down the black market price of these animal parts and discourage poaching. Many conservation groups oppose this approach, however, concerned that it may worsen the illegal hunting of rhinos and elephants. For instance, they worry that poachers will try to escape law enforcement by claiming that the horns they harvested from butchered rhinos are biofabricated mimics. The number of rhinos poached in Africa in 2015 rose to a record 1,338, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A continent-wide survey estimates that poachers kill about 27,000 African savanna elephants each year. Recent economic expansion in East Asia has fueled the growth, precipitating the emergence of a nouveau riche class with a taste for animal parts, prized as status symbols with purported medicinal benefits. Black market dealers tout powdered rhino horn as a cure for everything from hangovers to cancer, and artisans often carve rhino horn and elephant tusk into jewelry and other decorative objects. A United Nations treaty called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) prohibits global commercial trade of rhino horn and ivory. But participating countries can decide how to regulate trade within their borders. Conservationists argue that the only way to end poaching is to lower demand through education and awareness campaigns. But Vygantas and other scientists believe these efforts alone won’t save endangered species in time.