A flexible smart catheter* could serve as a vital lifeline for bringing the northern white rhino back from the brink of extinction*. The University of California San Diego (UCSD) has partnered with the San Diego Zoo to develop the unique catheter.

There are just two female northern white rhinos left in the world. Scientists will first take stem cells* from the northern white rhinos and biochemically manipulate* them so that they’re in a state where they can transform into almost any type of cell in the body.

Neither of the remaining female rhinos are capable of carrying a pregnancy*, so the scientists hope to use the catheter to artificially inseminate* the southern white rhino, a close relative of their northern neighbors.

“If we can make sperm* and eggs* in vitro* from northern white rhino cells that are living cell lines, then we can use those to fertilize* each other.”

The catheter measures just two to three millimeters in diameter and is a few meters in length. It is built to be able to snake through the complex twists and turns* of a female rhino’s reproductive anatomy*, using a series of tendons* attached to the device. “The catheter can be steered through a southern white rhino’s cervix* to deliver an embryo* to the uterus*,” said Michael Yip, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCSD.(SD-Agencies)