A Cell Viability and Utility Index (CVUI) for wildlife fibroblast biobanking: framework development and preliminary empirical validation

Abstract

Wildlife biobanking depends on consistent, reproducible cell culture outcomes, yet no standardised framework exists for assessing culture quality across taxa or for integrating quality metrics into institutional collections management systems. Here, we present the Cell Viability and Utility Index (CVUI), a scored pipeline framework validated in a pilot study of 154 culture rounds from 46 species held in the Ian Potter Australian Wildlife Biobank at Museums Victoria Research Institute. The CVUI was adapted from the Wildlife Sperm Index (Jacobs et al., 2026) and assigns weighted scores encompassing four sequential culture stages -- establishment, first passage, expansion, and cryobanking -- with a continuous viability modifier applied at the cryobanking stage. Survival analysis identified individual animal identity as the primary source of variance in culture establishment, whereas taxon was the primary predictor of first-passage success. Beyond first passage, failure rates were too low to reliably assess either effect, with critical attrition concentrated at the earliest pipeline stages. These findings informed the differential weighting of CVUI components and have direct implications for workflow prioritisation and banking strategy. Monitoring can now be targeted at establishment and first passage, the stages where intervention has the greatest impact, with taxon-specific attention warranted at first passage and individual-level attention at establishment, while the robustness of the late-stage protocol means that banking yield is largely determined before a culture reaches P1. Integration of CVUI scores into collections management platforms such as Axiell EMu (Electronic Museum) would transform passive record-keeping into active decision support, enabling real-time quality tracking, early flagging of at-risk cultures, and longitudinal benchmarking of biobank performance across species, collectors, and tissue types. This framework provides a foundation for optimising wildlife fibroblast biobanking protocols, developing taxon-specific culture standards, and expanding standardised quality assessment across wildlife biobanks nationally and internationally.