Genome resource samples of wild animals, particularly those of endangered mammalian and avian species, are very difficult to collect. In Korea, many of these animals such as tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, foxes, gorals, and river otters, are either already extinct, long before the Korean biologists had the opportunity to study them, or are near extinction. Therefore, proposal for a systematic collection and preservation of genetic samples of these precious animals was adopted by Korea Science & Engineering Foundation (KOSEF). As an outcome, Conservation Genome Resource Bank for Korean Wildlife (CGRB; www.cgrb.org) was established in 2002 at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University as one of the Special Research Materials Bank supported by the Scientific and Research Infrastructure Building Program of KOSEF. CGRB operates in collaboration with Seoul Grand Park Zoo managed by Seoul Metropolitan Government, and has offices and laboratories at both Seoul National University and Seoul Grand Park, where duplicate samples are maintained, thereby assuring a long-term, safe preservation of the samples. Thus, CGRB is the first example of the collaborative scientific infrastructure program between university and zoo in Korea.