Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Mammoth Mission: How Colossal Biosciences Aims to De-Extinct' the Woolly Mammoth

16/05/2023

Ten thousand years after the last woolly mammoths vanished with the last Ice Age, a team of computational biologists is on a mission to bring them back within five years.

Led by synthetic biology pioneer George Church, Colossal Biosciences is also seeking to return the dodo bird and Tasmanian tiger, as well as help save current-day endangered species.

The woolly mammoth is a very iconic species to bring back, said Eriona Hysolli, head of biological sciences at Colossal Biosciences, which is based in Austin, Texas. In addition, we see that pipeline as a proxy for conservation, given that elephants are endangered and much of this work directly benefits them.

There's plenty of work to be done on endangered species, as well.

Critically endangered, the African forest elephant has declined by nearly 90% in the past three decades, according to Colossal. Poaching took more than 100,000 African elephants between 2010 and 2012 alone, according to the company.

We might lose these elephant species in our lifetime if their numbers continue to dwindle, said Hysolli.

Humans caused the extinction of many species, but computational biologists are now trying to bring them back with CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies, leaps in AI, and bioinformatics tools and technology, such as the NVIDIA Parabricks software suite for genomic analysis.

To bring back a woolly mammoth, scientists at Colossal start with mammoth and elephant genome sequencing and identify what makes them similar and different. Then they use Asian elephant cells to engineer mammoth changes responsible for cold adaptation traits, transferring the nuclei of edited cells into elephant enucleated eggs before implanting them into a healthy Asian elephant surrogate.

Tech Advances Drive Genomics Leaps It took enormous effort over two decades, not to mention $3 billion in funding, to first sequence the human genome. But that's now been reduced to mere hours and under $200 per whole genome, thanks to the transformative impact of AI and accelerated computing.

It's a story well known to Colossal co-founder Church. The Harvard Medical School professor and co-founder of roughly 50 biotech startups has been at the forefront of genetics research for decades.

There's been about a 20 millionfold reduction in price, and a similar improvement in quality in a little over a decade, or a decade and a half, Church said in a recent interview on the TWiT podcast.

Research to Complete Reference Genome Puzzle Colossal's work to build a reference genome of the woolly mammoth is similar to trying to complete a puzzle.

DNA sequences from bone samples are assembled in silico. But degradation of the DNA over time means that not all the pieces are there. The gaps to be filled can be guided with the genome from an Asian elephant, the closest living relative for the mammoth.

Once a rough representative genome sequence is configured, secondary analysis takes place, which is where GPU acceleration with Parabricks comes in.

The suite of bioinformatic tools in Parabricks can provide more than 100x acceleration of industry-standard tools used for alignment and variant calling. In the alignment step, the short fragments, or reads, from the sequenced sample are aligned in the correct order, using the reference genome, which in this case is the genome of the Asian elephant. Then, in the variant-calling step, Parabricks tools identify the variants, or differences, between the sequenced whole genome mammoth samples and the Asian elephant reference.

In September, Colossal Biosciences spun out Form Bio, which offers a breakthrough computational life sciences platform, to aid its efforts and commercialize scientific innovations. Form Bio is a member of NVIDIA Inception, a program that provides companies with technology support and AI platforms guidance.

Parabricks includes some of the same tools as the open-source ones that Form Bio was using, making it easy to replace them with NVIDIA GPU-accelerated versions of those tools, said Brandi Cantarel, vice president of bioinformatics at Form Bio.

Compared with the open-source software on CPUs, Parabricks running on GPUs enables Colossal to complete their end-to-end sequence analysis 12x faster and at one-quarter the cost, accelerating the research.

We're getting very comparable or exactly the same outputs, and it was faster and cheaper, said Cantarel.

Analysis Targeting Cold Tolerance for Woolly Mammoth A lot is at stake in the sequencing and analysis.

The Form Bio platform hosts tools that can assess whether researchers make the right CRISPR edits and assist in analysis for whether cells are edited.

Can we identify what are the targets that we need to actually go after and edit and engineer? The answer is absolutely yes, and we've gotten very good at selecting impactful genetic differences, said Hysolli.

Another factor to consider is human contamination to samples. So for each sample researchers examine, they must do analysis against human cell references to discard those contaminants.

Scientists have gathered multiple specimens of woolly mammoths over the years, and the best are tooth or bone samples found in permafrost. We benefit from the fact that woolly mammoths were well-preserved because they lived in an Arctic environment, said Hysolli.

An Asian elephant is 99.6% the same as a mammoth genetically, according Ben Lamm, Colossal CEO and co-founder.

We're just targeting about 65 genes that represent the cold tolerance, the core phenotypes that we're looking for, he recently said on stage at South by Southwest in Austin.

Benefits to Biodiversity, Conservation and Humanity Colossal aims to create reference genomes for species, like the mammoth, that represent broad population samples. They're looking at mammoths from different regions of the globe and
LINK: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2023/05/16/colossal-biosciences-de-extin...
See more stories from nvidia

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/09/2026

Net Insight to Launch Nimbra 1020G at 2026 IBC Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

Disney, Optimum Renew Carriage Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

ACEMAGIC First to Introduce Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 AI Mini Workstation at IFA 2026

ACEMAGIC First to Introduce Ryzen AI Max PRO 495 AI Mini Workstation at IFA 202...

04/09/2026

Krotos Brings Video to Sound Footsteps Directly into Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve

Krotos Brings Video to Sound Footsteps Directly into Premiere Pro and DaVinci Re...

04/09/2026

RED DIGITAL CINEMA Comes Out Swinging at IBC 2026 with Next-Generation Live Broadcast Technology

RED DIGITAL CINEMA Comes Out Swinging at IBC 2026 with Next-Generation Live Broa...

04/09/2026

Orty v2.0-web - the cold-outreach assistant moves to the web

Orty v2.0-web - the cold-outreach assistant moves to the web Brie Clayton September 4, 2026 0 Comments Orty today announced v2.0-web of its AI cold-ou...

04/09/2026

Lightware expands LARA capabilities with new GUDE driver

Lightware is expanding its LARA (Lightware Advanced Room Automation) platform with the GUDE Power Distribution Units (PDU) driver module. GUDE devices can now b...

04/09/2026

People Behind the Technology - How Lightware Invests in W...

Lightware shares the second release in its ESG communications series. Following the first piece, which focused on the companys environmental performance, this r...

04/09/2026

Big Blue Marble delivers record 10 Tbps for European publ...

Big Blue Marble supported a leading European public service broadcaster in delivering the Soccer World Cup 2026 streams, supplying more than 10 Tbps of bandwidt...

04/09/2026

Hitomi MatchBox Glass is honoured with Emmy Award

Outstanding achievement in engineering, science and technology Hitomi Broadcast has been recognised with an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy from the Ac...

04/09/2026

California, Hollywood at a Crossroads

California, Hollywood at a Crossroads Andy Marken September 3, 2026 0 Comments I'm doing everything alone. Crossing roads alone. Seeing the Eiffe...

04/09/2026

Berklee Announces Winners of 2026 SongwritersdB Songwriting Contest

Berklee Announces Winners of 2026 SongwritersdB Songwriting Contest Students Luca Alexandru, Annika Wild, and Johanna James received the top prizes for origin...

04/09/2026

EVS, Matrox Partner on EBUs Dynamic Media Facility Initiative

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

TAG Video Systems Unveils TAG Blue

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

Orlando Magic and Gray Media Ink Full Season Broadcast Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

RT ANNOUNCE NEW DRAMA THE MURDER OF MR. MOONLIGHT BASED ON THE DISAPPEARANCE AND MURDER OF BOBBY RYAN

RT ANNOUNCE NEW DRAMA THE MURDER OF MR. MOONLIGHT BASED ON THE DISAPPEARANCE...

03/09/2026

Yospace releases new Ad Presentation solution, unlocking revenue opportunities with non-linear ad formats

Yospace will be at IBC from 11th - 14th September (booth 5.C78). For more inform...

03/09/2026

Creative Technology Group Announces Leadership Transition Effective January 2027

NEP Group has announced leadership changes at Creative Technology Group. Founder and CEO Graham Andrews will step away from day-to-day leadership at the end of ...

03/09/2026

NFL and TikTok Renew Multi-Year Partnership

The NFL and TikTok have announced a multi-year partnership renewal expanding the league's presence on the platform. NFL posts on TikTok increased more than ...

03/09/2026

Grass Valley Appoints Ronny Van Geel as Vice President, Cameras

Grass Valley has appointed Ronny Van Geel as Vice President, Cameras. Van Geel began his career in 1999 at Philips DVS and moved into product management in 2005...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Telestream to Preview Vantage Super Resolution

Telestream has announced Vantage Super Resolution, an AI-powered upscaling capability for the Vantage media workflow platform, developed in collaboration with N...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Solid State Logic TCA Tour

Solid State Logic (SSL) will debut the TCA Tour at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.B45), a portable production system built from System T components in a desktop frame...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: DPA Microphones Launches 6388 CORE+ Headset Microphone

DPA Microphones has announced the 6388 CORE Headset Microphone, making its debut at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand D60). The supercardioid headset features a physicall...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Qvest to Demonstrate Multi-Vendor Dynamic Media Facility Showcase

Qvest will present a multi-vendor Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) showcase at IBC2026 (Booth 10.C24), demonstrating how the EBU's DMF architecture can be imple...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Imagine Communications Debuts Magellan PanelFlex

Imagine Communications will showcase the Magellan PanelFlex control surface and other control portfolio updates at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, Septembe...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Bridge Technologies Launches Software-Based VB440 Deployment Option

Bridge Technologies will announce at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71) that its VB440 production probe is now available as a software-based solution, deployable on commerci...

03/09/2026

Audio-Technica Launches BP350ST Mid-Side Stereo Microphone in Two Variants

Audio-Technica has unveiled the BP350ST MS (mid-side) microphone in two versions: the camera-mount BP350ST-UL and the boundary or gooseneck-mountable BP350ST-UB...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Jnger Audio flexAI Adds CastCompanion, 12G-SDI, NDI, and TVU MediaMesh Integration

Telos Alliance will introduce updates to the J nger Audio flexAI audio processin...

03/09/2026

DUNKMAN to Expand in 2027 with Team Competitions, Junior Division, and Global Qualifiers

DUNKMAN, the professional dunk league founded by Shaquille O'Neal in partner...

03/09/2026

Orlando Magic Tap DAZN as DTC Streaming Partner, Will Join OTA Distribution Plans for 2026-27 Season

Orlando's WRDQ TV 27, WFTV Channel 9 previously named over-the-air broadcast...

03/09/2026

EverPass Media Expands NFL Agreement with Netflix for Commercial Venues

EverPass Media has announced a multi-year commercial distribution agreement with Netflix, expanding on an existing partnership that has delivered NFL Christmas ...

03/09/2026

Yahoo Sports and Apple TV Partner on MLB and MLS Alternate Broadcasts

Yahoo Sports and Apple TV have announced a partnership to deliver alternate broadcasts of select Friday Night Baseball and MLS games on the Yahoo Sports website...

03/09/2026

BIG EAST's Scott Hecht on the Evolution of Campus Production and What Comes Next

With another academic year underway, college athletic departments across the cou...

03/09/2026

ESPN Debuts Revamped, Cutting-Edge Studio W in Bristol as New Home to NFL Live, College Football, and More

Facility becomes permanent home of NFL Live on Sept. 9; centerpiece studio for c...

03/09/2026

Anthony Marinelli launches Bass DNA course

Create musical synth bass sounds from scratch Anthony Marinelli Music have recently announced the launch of Bass DNA, a new online course that teaches music...

03/09/2026

IK Multimedia unveil the Tonex Board

Most powerful Tonex hardware to date IK Multimedia's latest release introduces their most advanced Tonex hardware unit to date, combining their AI Machi...

03/09/2026

Penteo Audio Plugins announce Penteo 8

Upmix & downmix software upgraded Penteo Audio Plugins have announced that the latest version of their powerful upmix and downmix software is now available....

03/09/2026

Young talents begin their training at SGL Carbon in Germany

With the start of the new apprenticeship year, young talent has once again begun their professional careers at SGL Carbon's sites in Germany. Recently, the ...

03/09/2026

Calrec advances EBU's Dynamic Media Facility vision at IBC 2026

With the industry increasingly embracing hybrid, software-defined production models, Calrec will preview a series of Argo and ImPulseV software enhancements at ...

03/09/2026

NAB Backs Most Proposed EAS Changes at FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

TiVo Expands FAST Channels, AI Discovery with Latest OS Update

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

Eluvio Advances Content Fabric, AI at IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

Haivision Adds Bonded 5G Cellular Support to Makito ONE

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

Alex Pannell Joins Gravity Media as Chief Business Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

AI-Media To Feature Multilingual AI Developments At IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

Tuxera and ATTO collaborate to deliver blistering macOS n...

Recognizing the ever-increasing demands for media throughput in challenging environments like post-production, two leaders in network technology have worked tog...

03/09/2026

EVS and Matrox Video Join Forces to Accelerate Dynamic Me...

EVS, a leader in live video technology and production infrastructure solutions, and Matrox Video, a leader in software-defined media technology and IP-based vid...