Colossal Biosciences announces new AI platform to help accelerate de-extinction efforts — SkimNews
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- Colossal Biosciences announced GenoMorph, an AI platform combining 3D morphology, comparative genomics, and developmental biology to find gene-editing targets when only sparse extinct-species DNA exists.
- The platform was built from over a year of developmental data on chickens, quail, ducks, and pigeons, plus genetic information and 3D skull measurements from more than 70 bird species, per CEO Ben Lamm.
- Colossal has identified approximately 2,300 promising DNA editing targets for dodo cranial facial morphology that the team can now test in the lab.
- The dodo project is working from a single genome versus 100 woolly mammoth genomes, because tropical climates degrade DNA far faster than the cold environments where mammoth remains are preserved.
- Colossal's Nicobar pigeon colony — the dodo's closest living relative — now has 36 birds, and the team has successfully created the primordial germ cells that become eggs and sperm.
- The company also developed a lipid nanoparticle delivery system that puts gene-editing tools directly into developing bird embryos, skipping the wait for sexual maturity.
- Peter Diamandis, an XPRIZE founder and existing Colossal investor, announced a new VC firm, NeoGenesis Capital, to fund companies building on Colossal's programmable biology platform across health, agriculture, and conservation.
Why it matters: Colossal is attacking the core bottleneck in de-extinction: not editing genes, but knowing which of millions of genetic differences actually matter. GenoMorph turns a data-starved problem — one dodo genome — into a tractable one, and the lipid nanoparticle system shortens each test cycle by skipping bird maturation. The Diamandis-led VC gives the platform a second commercial life beyond de-extinction itself.
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