Ben Lamm’s Colossal Journey: From Ancient DNA to Living Dire Wolves in Just 18 Months
The path from ancient fossils to living, breathing dire wolves took just 18 months—a remarkably short timeframe that demonstrates the accelerating pace of genetic engineering and reproductive technologies. This achievement stands as a testament to the vision and execution capabilities of Colossal Biosciences and its co-founder Ben Lamm, who has built a career on transforming seemingly impossible concepts into reality.
"Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies," said Lamm, summarizing a process that involved cutting-edge genomics, CRISPR gene editing, and advanced reproductive techniques. "The only reason it was possible in 18 months is that we had the technology stack that we had been developing."
That technology st...