George Church, a geneticist and co-founder of nearly 50 companies, has launched his most daring project yet. His Texas-based start-up, Colossal Biosciences, aims to finance the transportation and resurrection of extinct species such as the woolly mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger, and the dodo by spinning off companies and licensing technologies. Church plans to use gene editing to modify the embryos of familiar animals to resemble lost species. The company has already raised $225 million from major investors and celebrities.
Colossal Biosciences’ main focus is technological development, rather than conserving endangered species. Church’s dream of resurrecting the woolly mammoth seemed far-fetched until venture capitalist Peter Thiel offered him $100,000 for the project in 2015. Church teamed up with Russian scientist Sergey Zimov to work on releasing mammoths into the wild at the Pleistocene Park in Siberia.
The project faces significant challenges, including increasing the number of genetic edits that can be performed simultaneously and creating a system for incubating mammoths in artificial wombs. Critics argue that the project is almost impossible and not environmentally sound, pointing out the difficulty of creating a breeding population and finding sufficient space for the animals.
Despite the challenges, Colossal is confident in its ability to overcome them. The company’s spinoff opportunities, such as biotech software company Form Bio, have already shown success. Colossal is also exploring partnerships with the pharmaceutical and biotech industries to apply its gene-editing techniques to human diseases.
In addition to the scientific aspects, Colossal aims to generate revenue through media partnerships and educate the public about their work. The company has attracted interest from major entertainment studios and plans to create mammoths and dodos for the public to see. However, the company emphasizes that their goals are not driven by vanity but rather by educational and ethical considerations.
While critics compare Colossal’s project to Jurassic Park, Church believes that the film has actually benefited scientists by encouraging them to consider the potential pitfalls. He assures that they are not in a rush to create dangerous creatures and emphasizes the importance of ethical decision-making.
In conclusion, George Church and his team at Colossal Biosciences are pushing the boundaries of genetic technology by attempting to bring back extinct species. Despite facing challenges, the company remains optimistic about its goals and hopes to create a positive impact on both the environment and human health through its advancements in gene editing.
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George Church has co-founded nearly 50 companies based on experiments in his genetics lab, from tackling age-related diseases to creation of pig organs for use in human transplantation.
But his latest project, Colossal Biosciences, is his most outlandish yet. The Texas-based start-up aims to spin off companies and license technologies to finance the transportation of the woolly mammoth, the Tasmanian tigerand the dodo returned from extinction.
His plan is to use gene editing to modify the embryos of familiar animals until they resemble lost species, and he wants to create his first version of a mammoth – a genetically modified elephant embryo born to an elephant mother – within 2028. Church said the timeline was “ambitious” but “not impossible.”
Since the firm was co-founded by Church in 2021, it has raised $225 million from major investors and celebrities including venture capitalist Peter Thiel, entrepreneur Thomas Tull and Paris Hilton.
It already spun off biotech software company Form Bio last year, raising $30 million, and hopes to capitalize on other technologies it develops along the way to help fund its giant project.
It also includes revenue from media partnerships that tell the story of a project that some have compared to Jurassic Park.
But according to Church: “The main business is not about endangered species. We might as well give away a lot just for conservation and goodwill. I think the main activity is technological development.”
For years, Church has said he didn’t think anyone would fund his favorite project to resurrect the woolly mammoth. Then, in 2015, Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, offered him $100,000 for the job over breakfast.
“He just said, ‘What are your top three dreams?’ and I thought she would definitely bite into the reversal of aging. But she didn’t. I didn’t think he would bite mammoths, but she did,” Church said.
In 2018, Church traveled to the Pleistocene Park experimental nature reserve in Siberia, which he was working with Russian scientist Sergey Zimov on a plan for the mammoths to eventually be released into the wild.
Colossal believes that bringing mammoths back to life could help restore the Arctic tundra, preventing thaw and the release of stored greenhouse gases.
The project faces two huge challenges in particular. The first is to increase the number of genetic edits that can be performed simultaneously, a process known as “multiplex editing,” to get as close as possible to creating a mammoth from an elephant embryo.
The second is to create a system for incubating mammoths in artificial wombs. Matt James, Colossal’s chief animal officer, who joined Colossal after a career in zoos where he specialized in elephant care, said the number of reproductive females in a population is always the limiting factor in the increase. of populations of endangered species.
“If you have an artificial womb, suddenly you can start depopulating and helping recover populations very quickly,” she said.
Critics say the challenges make the project nearly impossible or not environmentally sound.
Matthew Cobb, professor of zoology at the University of Manchester, said plans call for the creation of “a vaguely mammoth elephant or vaguely dodo pigeon”.
“They’re not making any animals extinct, they’re using the power of genetic engineering, they say, to create a strange hybrid,” he said.
Colossal said it wasn’t trying to create exact clones, but to create a species that had specific traits that made it unique.
Cobb added that it would also be difficult to build a breeding population, which would require at least several hundred animals to ensure genetic diversity.
Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University in North Carolina who studies extinctions today, said a single woolly mammoth would struggle to survive, and a sufficient herd would need an enormous amount of space.
“If you had a woolly mammoth, the only thing you could do is put it in a cage. It seems outrageous, you went to all this effort to create something for a peep show,” he said. “So how many woolly mammoths would you need? It would take 50, maybe 100, and it would take a thousand square kilometers to put them.”
James agreed that mammoths would be “highly social” and need a “strong herd structure,” so Colossal plans to create herds of genetically diverse mammoths to provide that. He said the company is working to identify rewilding sites with enough space for a herd, including conversations with US state governments.
Colossal said it is also working with governments on ideas to preserve endangered species.
Ben Lamm, the serial entrepreneur co-founder and CEO of Colossal, said Form Bio was just the first of the company’s spinout opportunities.
Colossal built the software behind Form Bio to run its labs, then sold it to other labs in the biotech industry and academia. Lamm, who sits on the board, said Form Bio is working with other companies on projects like using machine learning to design drugs, with opportunities to set up joint ventures and share revenues.
Lamm thinks Colossal could work with the pharmaceutical and biotech industries to use the new multiplex editing tools it’s developing in humans. Treatments using gene-editing techniques such as Crispr are being developed for diseases such as sickle cell disease caused by a single faulty gene. Multiplex editing could allow for the treatment of conditions caused by multiple genes.
Eriona Hysolli, head of life sciences at Colossal, listed some of the possibilities of gene editing: “With multiplex editing, can you actually target diseased cells or tissue? Can you target multiple genes at once, not just single-gene diseases, but multi-gene diseases like diabetes or Alzheimer’s?”
Lamm hopes the 17-person team working on artificial wombs will create a technology that could be licensed or turned over to another company to aid human reproduction. “It’s a bit like Mars. Many people are working on Mars and think they will get there eventually. I feel very similar from the point of view of ex uterus development.
Meanwhile, Colossal is working on ways to further publicize the project and earn revenue from media partnerships.
Lamm said every major entertainment studio has reached out to Colossal to express an interest in filming their work. Many of Colossal’s investors have media backgrounds, including Tull, who is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Legendary Entertainment.
“We want to educate and inspire by creating mammoths or dodos,” Lamm said.
There may be opportunities to go see the animals created by Colossal, but James said the company hasn’t decided how much access to give to the public.
It has resisted comparisons to Jurassic Park. “That association is not my favorite because I think we are doing it for purposes other than vanity. And I also think we’re probably taking some ethical considerations along the way,” she said.
Church, however, thinks the film did scientists a favor by encouraging people to think about what could go wrong. “It vaccinates us against particular scenarios. It’s unlikely we’ll make exactly the mistakes they made in Jurassic Park,” he said. “First of all, I’m not in a big hurry to make hyper carnivores.”
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