The $10B Startup Behind the Revived Dire Wolf Reports Another Breakthrough

Extinction is supposed to be permanent. But Colossal Biosciences, a Texas startup bent on reviving long-lost species through genetic engineering, has other ideas. The company says it has taken a pivotal step toward resurrecting the dodo, the flightless Mauritian bird that vanished in the 17th century—and it has fresh funding to fuel the effort.

Colossal announced today (Sept. 17) that its scientists have successfully grown pigeon primordial germ cells (PGCs), the precursors of sperm and eggs in birds. These cells will eventually be edited with ancient DNA traits and used to produce new generations of birds. It marks the first time PGC culture has been achieved beyond chickens and geese, laying the groundwork to one day bring the dodo back.

“Our avian team’s breakthrough in deriving culture conditions that allow pigeon primordial germ cells to survive long-term is a significant advancement for dodo de-extinction,” said Colossal CEO Ben Lamm in a statement. Lamm co-founded the company in 2021 with geneticist George Church, pursuing a Jurassic Park-style mission to engineer ancient DNA into the genomes of living relatives.

That ambition has drawn heavyweight investors. In January, Colossal raised $200 million in a Series C round led by TWG Global, the holding company of billionaires Mark Walter and Thomas Tull. An extension to the round has since added $120 million, with new participants including the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, and investor Bob Nelson. Colossal’s valuation now tops $10.3 billion.

Bird de-extinction poses unique challenges. Unlike mammals, birds cannot be cloned through somatic cell nuclear transfer. Instead, Colossal plans to use the Nicobar pigeon, the dodo’s closest living relative, to create edited PGCs that can be injected into chick embryos. In theory, that means a chicken could one day lay the egg of a pigeon, a dodo relative and eventually a dodo itself.

To oversee future conservation work and a planned dodo rewilding program, Colossal has formed the Mauritius Dodo Advisory Committee, made up of cultural, commercial, government, and community leaders. “This journey is more than reviving a lost species—it is about honoring our island’s unique heritage,” said Devina Lobine, the committee’s chair and research officer at the Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology, in a statement.

The dodo isn’t Colossal’s only target. The company’s headline projects also include the woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine. More recently, Colossal added the moa, a 12-foot-tall flightless bird native to New Zealand that went extinct 600 years ago. In July, it announced a partnership with the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, which supports the Māori tribe of southern New Zealand, to collaborate on bringing the moa back.

Colossal has also unveiled proof-of-concept projects. Earlier this year, it showed off the “woolly mouse,” a genetically engineered rodent with mammoth-like hair. In April, it inserted dire wolf DNA into grey wolves, producing three pups with dire wolf traits, and cloned four endangered red wolf pups to highlight how its methods could bolster genetic diversity in living species.

The company insists its dodo research has immediate conservation value. Culturing PGCs, it says, could help protect endangered birds such as the Mauritian pink pigeon. “This breakthrough represents a transformative tool for avian conservation,” said Beth Shapiro, Colossal’s chief science officer, in a statement. “By developing these protocols, we’re establishing crucial biobanking capabilities and opening new possibilities for the genetic rescue of endangered species.”