Each year, Wilderlab funds the Wilderlab eDNA Scholarship at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, supporting postgraduate students to bring DNA-based tools into their research.

A simple baited pipe fitted with a fine mesh filter detected endangered Otago skinks 30 to 50% more often than traditional field surveys at the same site. The results are now published in the New Zealand Journal of Ecology.  

In the summer of 2020/2021, New Zealand's regional councils joined forces on a nationwide eDNA trial across 53 well-known rivers and streams. The results set the six-replicate sampling protocol now widely used for riverine eDNA monitoring, and the data went on to train a new eDNA-based measure of river health. 

When the freshwater golden clam (Corbicula fluminea) turned up in the Waikato River in May 2023, Wilderlab's eDNA records showed it had been there for months before anyone saw it.