Tasmanian tigers could soon be brought back to life, 90 years after the species went extinct, if a $10 million research project succeeds.

A University of Melbourne research lab, which has been working on reviving the species for the past 15 years, has now partnered with US-based genetic engineering company to boost efforts.

Scientists will take stem cells from a species with similar DNA, the fat-tailed dunnart, and use gene editing technology.

The lab team, headed up by the world’s foremost Tasmanian tiger expert Professor Andrew Pask, has already assembled a complete genome of the animal.

Tasmanian tigers were the only marsupial apex predator in Australia until they were hunted to extinction after European colonisation.

Image: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia