Colossal Biosciences’ 2028 goal: Bringing back the woolly mammoth
Based in Austin, Texas, biotech Colossal Biosciences is at the forefront of de-extinction, critically endangered species protection and the repopulation of critical ecosystems.
Since DNA was recovered in 2021 from mammoths frozen in the Arctic tundra, the company has been working on splicing bits of the recovered DNA into the genome of its closest relative, the Asian elephant, as it shares 99.6% of its DNA.
“I called him to reach out to talk about the applications to software for synthetic biology. I thought that could be my next area of interest,” Lamm said.
“I’m a curious person, so I did ask the question, George, if you had unlimited capital in one project that you would have to focus the rest of your life on, what would it be and why? And he said, I would bring back the woolly mammoth, reintroduce it back into the Arctic, as well as build systems that can be applied to both human health care and to conservation to save critically endangered species.”
“Nobody had ever built a for-profit species preservation company or a de-extinction company. So, it was definitely a unique pitch to investors,” Lamm explained.
