Bringing the woolly mammoth back to life is no easy task. But for Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal Biosciences, the stress of the job is well worth it for such a breakthrough’s potential impact on conservation, technological advancement and what he thinks will eventually be a lucrative payoff.
The biotech aspect, which involves genetically engineering ancient DNA into the closest living relatives of extinct species, is hard enough. “This is making a mammoth,” Lamm told Observer at this year’s SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, as he gestured to a small cup of coffee in front of him. But, like the cluster of glasses, plates and silverware surrounding his drink, there’s more going on than meets the eye. “This table is Colossal. This table is messy and complicated,” he added.
Co-founded by Lamm and the biologist George Church in 2021, the Dallas-based Colossal is hoping to resurrect not just the woolly mammoth, but also the dodo bird and Tasmanian tiger. Such “de-extinction efforts,” as Colossal likes to refer to them as, require collaboration with scientists, government representatives, Indigenous groups and conservationists on the vast implications of bringing such animals back.
When it comes to the woolly mammoth, for example, Lamm said Colossal works with a litany of the world’s top elephant conservationists. In Kenya, the startup’s collaboration with Save the Elephants includes studying the migratory patterns of elephants. And in Botswana, it’s working with Elephant Havens on computer vision models for re-wilding orphan elephants back into herds—research that will be key for Colossal’s woolly mammoths, the first of which it hopes to birth in 2028.
Creating the “woolly mouse”
Earlier this month, Colossal claimed to have made progress towards its woolly mammoth dreams when it unveiled the “woolly mouse,” a genetically engineered rodent with fluffy, woolly mammoth-like hair. The feat was achieved by editing seven genes in mice embryos, a task Lamm says has verified that his company’s Asian elephant cell edits are on the right track.
“We got exactly what we expected,” he said. The mice are all healthy, according to Lamm, who has named two of them “Chip and Dale.” Colossal’s next step is testing whether the woolly mice’s coats offer them enhanced cold tolerance over the next six to 12 months.
While scientists remain cautious about whether the startup’s latest announcement really signifies a breakthrough, investors are flocking to Colossal’s mammoth-sized undertaking. Having attracting a star-studded list of backers like the actor Joe Manganiello and Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, the startup has raised some $435 million in funding over the past three years and in January was valued at a staggering $10.2 billion.
Colossal additionally receives funding from the U.S. government, said Lamm yesterday (March 9) during a SXSW panel moderated by Manganiello. Colossal meets with several federal agencies on a quarterly basis to discuss its technology and “speculatively, what others could be doing,” he said.
Can de-extinction make money?
Attracting investors may not be an issue for Colossal, but achieving financial returns on de-extinction is another thing. For now, the company’s business model includes spinning out startups with technologies that have applications to areas like human health care or industrial use cases. It’s already created Form Bio and Breaking, two startups focused on computational biology and plastic degradation technologies, respectively. It’s also planning on spinning out a third venture that has yet to be announced and is beginning to “pseudo-incubate” a fourth, Lamm told Observer.
While the profitability of woolly mammoths and dodo birds might be less obvious, Lamm is confident that resurrected animals will pay off in the end. “There’s huge amounts of money in biodiversity credits, carbon credits and what eventually will be nature credits and actually re-wilding these species back into their natural habitats,” said the executive, referring to a concept where companies buy into conserving and restoring ecosystems. “Longer term, we think we’ll make billions of dollars.”
