Colossal Biosciences announced Wednesday a new AI platform to help accelerate its efforts to bring back extinct species, TechCrunch can exclusively report. The platform, called GenoMorph, uses advanced 3D morphology, comparative genomics, and developmental biology to identify genes that could be edited in de-extinction projects with limited gene data. The is using it as part of its effort to bring back the dodo bird, for which there are limited genomes to work with.
For example, the company is working with only one Dodo genome compared to the 100 genomes it has been able to obtain as part of its woolly mammoth de-extinction project. DNA from the woolly mammoth is more plentiful because the colder climates the animal lived in preserve the DNA better than the tropics where the dodo lived, the company said. He said GenoMorph will help the company tackle one of its biggest bottlenecks in trying to de-extinct animals — finding out which changes actually make an extinct species unique.
But Lamm said scientists also need to test whether those edits can create the physical traits they need. This will help the team see how certain genetic changes impact the development of a bird “without having to wait through an entire breeding cycle that requires birds to reach sexual maturity.” The company also announced Wednesday that its Nicobar pigeon colony now has 36 birds and that it has successfully created the essential cells that become eggs and sperm. Next, the company is hoping to prove what GenoMorph predicts in a lab.
When asked whether it was safe to edit genes this way, Lamm said the point of developing a technology like GenoMorph is to make genetic engineering “more precise, controlled, and testable.” He said the product doesn’t edit genes itself, but helps their team identify which genetic changes are worth investigating. Diamandis, who is an investor in Colossal, announced on Wednesday that he has founded a new VC firm, NeoGenesis Capital, to back companies using Colossal Biosciences’ programmable biology platform across health, agriculture and conservation.
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