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Dr. Mehrdad Hajibabaei Speaks To Us About The Bar Code For Life Project

Posted on Saturday, October 17th 2009   

The "bar code for life" project, initiated by Dr. Paul Hebert of the University of Guelph is now the major occupation of the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario of which Dr. Hajibabaei is a member. The objective of the project is to identify the DNA of all living plants and animals on earth and capture these in barcodes, each being unique for each species. There is an estimated 1.9 million different plants and animals on this earth providing an idea of the enormous task ahead. There are participants in 75 countries.
Dr. Hajibabaei informed us that the identification technology is so advanced these days that a mix of species can be identified with an instrument no bigger than a suitcase.