In an attempt to recreate a modern day Noah's Ark, Russia is planning to build a DNA databank of all living creatures on the planet.

A team of researchers from the Moscow State University will create a massive database that will hold all the DNA code and information of every living creature under the animal kingdom. The databank will be housed inside Moscow State University where the project is set to be completed by 2018. The first phase is reported to cost $19 million.

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According to Viktor Sadivnichy, rector of Moscow State University, the project is aptly called Noah's Ark, as it will serve as a databank for every living creature on Earth that also includes endangered creatures and extinct organisms. Sadivnichy says this scientific milestone will put Russia as the first nation to realize and create a true Noah's Ark of sorts.

The U.K. also has a similar DNA project called Frozen Ark, which will catalog the DNA of the planet's endangered species where it will be considered as the equivalent of the Millenium Seed Bank that is the world's largest plant conservation program.

However, this Russian project aims to store DNA code from every known animal and organism on the planet. The "ark" in Moscow State University will span 430 kilometers in size where scientists from the university will cryogenically freeze and store all kinds of cellular matter that can be reproduced in the future. The ark will also possess a systematic information system as not all DNA will be stored in a petri dish. 

The DNA database will also include biomaterial from the different branches in the university such as the Zoological Museum, the Botanical Garden and the Anthropological Museum. These departments will also be participating to consolidate the massive expanse of data as the research progresses.

The project already received some 1 billion rubles or  $194 million. The DNA databank will also be connected to other facilities in homes and even outside of Russia.

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