Introduction to Colossal Biosciences’ Breakthrough

Colossal Biosciences, a company known for its ambitious goal of reviving the woolly mammoth by 2028, is making steady progress. Their latest achievement is the genetic engineering of mice to have fur similar to that of mammoths.

The Engineering Process

The process involved identifying mouse versions of mammoth genes and using CRISPR to edit mouse embryos, as explained by Dr. Beth Shapiro, Chief Science Officer at Colossal, in an interview with TechCrunch. These embryos were then implanted into surrogate mouse mothers.

Characteristics of the Woolly Mice

According to Colossal Biosciences, the woolly mice have fur that closely resembles the color, texture, and thickness of a mammoth’s fur.

Future Plans and Regulatory Approval

The company believes that the woolly coat will enable the genetically engineered mice to survive in cold climates. However, they must first obtain approval from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), which ensures ethical and humane animal research, before conducting such experiments.

Testing Cold Tolerance

Shapiro noted that the company needs to test the engineered mice’s cold tolerance to validate whether these genes would improve the mammoth’s adaptation to cold environments.

Colossal’s Approach to Reviving the Mammoth

Colossal’s approach to bringing back the mammoth involves mapping the entire genome of an extinct woolly mammoth and comparing it with its closest living relative, the Asian Elephant.

Investor Confidence and Funding

Investors have been impressed with the speed at which the company is creating technologies, as stated by Ben Lamm, Colossal Biosciences’ co-founder and CEO, when the company announced a $200 million round at a $10.2 billion valuation in January.

Additional De-Extinction Projects

In addition to working on the woolly mammoth, the company aims to bring back the Tasmanian tiger and the dodo bird.

Realism of the 2028 Goal

However, achieving the 2028 goal might not be realistic, according to David Gold, a professor of Paleobiology at UC Davis, who notes that producing multiple mutations in mice is challenging, but creating a woolly mammoth is significantly more difficult.

Expert Insights

“It is exciting to see the mice produce a mammoth-like coat. But there are hundreds of differences between the DNA of an elephant and a mammoth, so there is a long way to go,” Gold said, adding that while he believes it will be possible to eventually re-create the woolly mammoth, there are numerous technical hurdles ahead.

Colossal’s Perspective on Progress

Despite the challenges, Lamm refers to Colossal’s creation of the woolly mouse as a “watershed moment” for the company’s de-extinction mission.

Conclusion

“The animals were born healthy, and they had the exact phenotypes that we predicted,” Lamm said. “The only thing that was unintended was the adorability factor. They are just way cuter than we anticipated.”