Colossal Biosciences launches AI platform for de-extinction work

Colossal Biosciences announced Wednesday a new AI platform, called GenoMorph, built to speed up its de-extinction work by identifying which genes to edit when only limited genetic data survives from an extinct species. The company is applying it first to its effort to revive the dodo, for which it has only one usable genome to work with — compared with the 100 genomes it has gathered for its woolly mammoth project, since DNA degrades faster in the tropical climates where the dodo lived than in the cold regions that preserved mammoth remains.

Lamm explained that scientists normally compare many genomes to pinpoint which genetic differences drive specific traits, but that approach isn’t available with ancient DNA from extinct species, where only a small number of complete genomes exist.

To build GenoMorph, Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm said the company combined developmental data collected from chickens, quail, ducks and pigeons with genetic information and 3D skull measurements from more than 70 bird species, a project that took over a year. The AI learns which regions of DNA are active as different birds develop their beaks and facial structures, then uses that to predict which genetic switches may have produced the dodo’s distinctive look, narrowing an otherwise vast set of possibilities down to the differences that actually matter. “So far we’ve identified approximately 2,300 promising DNA editing targets for the dodo cranial facial morphology that we can now test in the lab,” he said.

Testing those targets required a separate advance: a system, built by Colossal, that uses lipid nanoparticles to deliver gene-editing tools directly into developing bird embryos, letting researchers see how a genetic change affects development without waiting through a full breeding cycle to sexual maturity. The company also said Wednesday that its Nicobar pigeon colony — the dodo’s closest living relative — has grown to 36 birds and has yielded the precursor cells that become eggs and sperm, a step Colossal considers central to its strategy for producing birds carrying dodo traits.

Lamm said GenoMorph itself doesn’t edit genes; it only helps the team identify which changes are worth investigating, which he described as a way to make genetic engineering more precise, controlled and testable. The platform’s debut comes alongside a vote of confidence from investor Peter Diamandis, founder of XPRIZE, who announced Wednesday that he has launched a new venture firm, NeoGenesis Capital, to back companies using Colossal’s broader programmable-biology platform across health, agriculture and conservation.

Why it matters

GenoMorph is a bet that AI can make de-extinction economically viable even for species with almost no surviving DNA — a capability that, Lamm suggested, is already starting to carry over into other projects across Colossal’s broader biology work.