Colossal Biosciences is pioneering de-extinction, having successfully engineered dire wolf pups and working towards reviving the woolly mammoth. This groundbreaking science not only aims to bring back extinct species but also holds immense potential for advancements in human healthcare and longevity. The company leverages cutting-edge technologies like AI and CRISPR to reconstruct ancient genomes, with the ultimate goal of applying these innovations to solve critical human health challenges and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Colossal Biosciences is at the forefront of a revolutionary scientific endeavor: de-extinction. The company, known for its ambitious projects to bring back species like the woolly mammoth and the dire wolf, is not just aiming to recreate the past, but to forge a path toward a healthier human future.
- Colossal Biosciences is dedicated to the revival of extinct species.
- The company has successfully engineered three dire wolf pups and is actively working on the woolly mammoth.
- The scientific advancements in de-extinction hold significant potential for environmental conservation, medical breakthroughs, and evolutionary research.
Colossal Biosciences' mission to resurrect extinct species, including the woolly mammoth and dire wolves, inevitably draws comparisons to fictional portrayals like Jurassic Park. CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm acknowledges the public's fascination but emphasizes a more pragmatic and beneficial approach.
"I think anyone that saw Jurassic Park in the 90s and didn't say it was cool, like I don't think they're probably very fun at parties," Lamm quipped at the CNBC AI Forum. "But yes, I saw the movies. I love them. They entertained us. They scared us." He further clarified, "I constantly have to remind people on X that, you know, they were movies... I don't think Jurassic Park had any conservation or general human benefit models to it, so we've tried to take a slightly different perspective."
While bringing back dinosaurs remains in the realm of science fiction due to the impossibility of obtaining viable DNA, Colossal is actively engaged in genetically engineering other extinct species. Beyond the dire wolf and woolly mammoth, the company is also working on reviving the dodo bird, the Tasmanian tiger, and the giant moa bird.
"It's highly likely in the next coming year or two, people will continue to see us deliver extinct species back to Earth, and we could even have more dire wolves, too," Lamm stated, projecting significant progress in the near future.
The innovative process for creating the dire wolf pups involved extracting genetic material from ancient fossils. Using advanced AI models, Colossal reconstructed the dire wolf genome and mapped it to its closest living relative, the gray wolf. This enabled the team to create embryos by editing the cells of modern gray wolves, leading to the successful birth of three pups—Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi—via surrogate domestic dogs.
Addressing skepticism that the company merely created genetically modified gray wolves, Lamm reframed the argument. "Gray wolves are just genetically modified dire wolves. They were just done by nature or God or however you want to classify it," he explained, highlighting the evolutionary continuum.
A similar methodology is being applied to the woolly mammoth project, which involves genetically modifying an Asian elephant. Lamm anticipates the birth of a woolly mammoth in the 2030s, asserting, "We call it a woolly mammoth. Because if it looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, it serves ecological functions of a duck, it's a duck, in our perspective."
Lamm's deep dive into de-extinction was inspired by a pivotal meeting with George Church, a renowned geneticist and a pioneer in synthetic biology. Church had long harbored the ambition of bringing back the woolly mammoth, a vision that extends far beyond mere biological recreation.
"[Church] had this vision that we could leverage CRISPR and all these tools and technologies to bring back extinct species, use some of those technologies for human healthcare, and then build this programmable life model that we could apply to so many different use cases on Earth," Lamm articulated.
The potential applications are vast, ranging from significant environmental benefits, such as the woolly mammoth's role in maintaining arctic ecosystems and mitigating climate change by converting forests to grasslands, to groundbreaking advancements in human medicine. The de-extinction process itself is accelerating progress in genome engineering and developmental biology.
These innovations could revolutionize fields from environmental remediation, such as cleaning plastic from oceans, to developing sophisticated gene therapies for humans and eradicating genetic diseases. Lamm also theorized that advancements in DNA synthesis could lead to the development of faster-growing crops and trees, fundamentally transforming agriculture and forestry.
"We're pushing the bounds of DNA synthesis to synthesize the largest cargos of DNA. That will be massively transformative for how we think about programmable life," he stated.
A spin-off company, Astromech, is exploring "convergent evolution," investigating why species with similar traits exhibit different immunities or health issues, exemplified by elephants' lower cancer rates compared to humans. This research holds promise for tackling human healthcare challenges and enhancing pandemic response strategies. Astromech has already achieved a valuation of $2 billion.
Lamm stressed the urgency of these scientific pursuits given the current biodiversity crisis. "We are in a biodiversity crisis, so we need these tools because we're going to lose about half of biodiversity in the next 25 years. So, we do need cryopreservation, we need biobanks, we need genetic rescue and these types of tools," he advocated. "It opens the gate for us to say, if we take these models and we take these evolutionary trends, what can we learn from it, and how can that apply to other use cases, and how can we use directed evolution on everything from crops to human healthcare and beyond?"
Colossal Biosciences' groundbreaking work and its potential to address global challenges have attracted significant investor interest. In July, the company announced a $200 million Series C funding round, led by TWG Global, valuing the company at $10.2 billion. To date, Colossal has raised over $435 million.
Lamm also highlighted the inspiring aspect of de-extinction for younger generations, noting that a substantial portion of their investors are influenced by their children. "If we can inspire the next generation and get them excited about science and education and conservation, and then build out a synthetic biology platform that can be leveraged for so many different use cases, that's the real mission here," he concluded. "Our kids, they're going to inherit our problems, and the decisions on how we solve those."
