由于莫纳什大学的科学家们第一次从成年豹组织中产生胚胎干细胞样细胞，濒危灭绝雪豹的存活看到了希望。
在从未有诱导多能干细胞（iPS）以前，胚胎干细胞的许多有用的特性产生自猫科成员。此突破为将来克隆而冷冻保存遗传物质和其他辅助再生技术提供了可能性。
发表在Theriogenology上的研究是Rajneesh Verma博士项目的一部分，由Paul Verma博士指导，他们均来自莫纳什医学研究所(MIMR)。莫纳什大学妇产科学系的副教授Peter Temple-Smith和昆士兰大学的教授Michael Holland也共同研究此项目。
研究人员用取自澳洲新南威尔斯的摩哥动物园（Mogo Zoo）成年雪豹的耳组织样本产生诱导多能干细胞。
Verma博士说，此突破很重要，因为获得生殖细胞，或配子相当困难，甚至是从囚禁动物中获取。
"在濒危物种组织的超低温保存方面有很多意义，但是为了有用的保护而这样做，精子和卵子是必需的。"
"干细胞的威力就是，它们在机体内可分化成所有类型的细胞。这就意味着，它们有潜力成为配子。事实上，小鼠诱导多功能干细胞已经产生完整的后代，因此可能性是巨大的"， Verma博士说。
猫科物种保存突破的益处与生物多样性都很明显。
"通过产生这些干细胞，我已在从濒危灭绝动物成年组织中创造生殖细胞方面迈出了第一步。在将来，我们的目标是利用诱导多功能干细胞的潜力，创造下一代。这将有助于挽救濒危灭绝的物种"， Verma先生说。
雪豹是一种大型猫科动物，原产于亚洲中部山区。他们的高海拨栖息地和胆怯天性使我们很难做出准确的种群统计，但据估计，自然界有3500至7000只雪豹，数量还在下降。
Verma先生童年时期在印度就对这种巨大的猫科动物很着迷。
"我确实是追随着自己的热情在运用自己干细胞的专业知识来拯救这些动物。我在猫科动物其他成员身上运用同样的技术，其他的，包括孟加拉虎、捷豹和山猫。"（生物谷bioon.com）
doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2011.09.022
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Inducing pluripotency in somatic cells from the snow leopard (Panthera uncia), an endangered felid
R. Verma, M.K. Holland, P. Temple-Smith, P.J. Verma
Abstract Induced pluripotency is a new approach to produce embryonic stem-like cells from somatic cells that provides a unique means to understand both pluripotency and lineage assignment. To investigate whether this technology could be applied to endangered species, where the limited availability of gametes makes production and research on embryonic stem cells difficult, we attempted generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from snow leopard (Panthera uncia) fibroblasts by retroviral transfection with Moloney-based retroviral vectors (pMXs) encoding four factors (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and cMYC). This resulted in the formation of small colonies of cells, which could not be maintained beyond four passages (P4). However, addition of NANOG, to the transfection cocktail produced stable iPS cell colonies, which formed as early as D3. Colonies of cells were selected at D5 and expanded in vitro. The resulting cell line was positive for alkaline phosphatase (AP), OCT4, NANOG, and Stage-Specific embryonic Antigen-4 (SSEA-4) at P14. RT-PCR also confirmed that endogenousOCT4 and NANOG were expressed by snow leopard iPS cells from P4. All five human transgenes were transcribed at P4, but OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG transgenes were silenced as early as P14; therefore, reprogramming of the endogenous pluripotent genes had occurred. When injected into immune-deficient mice, snow leopard iPS cells formed teratomas containing tissues representative of the three germ layers. In conclusion, this was apparently the first derivation of iPS cells from the endangered snow leopard and the first report on induced pluripotency in felid species. Addition of NANOG to the reprogramming cocktail was essential for derivation of iPS lines in this felid. The iPS cells provided a unique source of pluripotent cells with utility in conservation through cryopreservation of genetics, as a source of reprogrammed donor cells for nuclear transfer or for directed differentiation to gametes in the future.
