Vanilla is the world's most popular spice and yet it relies on a single plant clone, creating a genetic bottleneck risk for the entire production. On top of that, the vanilla genus contains nearly 150 species across 4 continents. Most are completely unstudied, no photos of them even exist.These species are at risk: their habitat is slowly being destroyed, and due to their unique biology, seeds aren't viable for banking. Their survival relies on someone, somewhere, keeping a plant alive. Moreover Vanilla holds a unique genetic biodiversity, a potential resource for medicine, food security, and ecosystem resilience.

This is why I founded the Vanilla Biodiversity Conservatory, the world's only ex situ conservatory dedicated exclusively to the genus Vanilla. Based in San Francisco, we locate and secure the rarest species on Earth and propagate them for research and future generations. Among our future projects: building the first molecularly authenticated genetic record of the living genus, and creating the first global directory to connect vanilla researchers who currently work in isolation from one another.