The conservation field has long faced a sobering truth: traditional methods alone cannot keep pace with the rapid rate of biodiversity loss. Climate change, habitat destruction, invasive species, and disease outbreaks have accelerated extinction threats beyond what natural adaptation can handle. In 2025, however, Colossal Biosciences demonstrated that new biotechnological tools can tip the balance.
On April 7, the company announced the birth of three dire wolf pups—Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi—the world’s first de-extinct animals. This landmark achievement was more than the return of an Ice Age predator. It was proof that CRISPR gene editing could deliver large-scale, precise modifications to create living, viable animals. Now, Colossal is scaling that achievement into a broader conservation platform, aided by the recent appointment of Professor Andrew Pask as its new Chief Biology Officer.
Multiplex Gene Editing: A Breakthrough Proven by the Dire Wolf
At the heart of Colossal’s work lies multiplex gene editing—the ability to make many precise genetic changes at once. The dire wolf project achieved a record-breaking 20 genomic edits across 14 genes, surpassing anything accomplished in vertebrates before. This breakthrough proved that scientists can engineer complex traits—like size, musculature, and coat density—by editing multiple genes in a coordinated effort.
“Each time you edit a gene in a cell, you put a lot of stress on that cell,” explained Dr. Beth Shapiro, Colossal’s Chief Science Officer. “So what we do instead is dozens of edits at once. That’s multiplex gene editing.”
Dr. George Church, co-founder of Colossal and a Harvard geneticist, emphasized the implications: “The dire wolf is the early example. It includes the largest number of precise genomic edits in a healthy vertebrate so far—a capability that is growing exponentially.”
This ability to handle many edits simultaneously is crucial not just for de-extinction, but for conservation. It opens the door to tackling inbreeding depression, disease susceptibility, and climate vulnerability in endangered species—all challenges that cannot be solved by single-gene changes.
Dire Wolves as a Catalyst for Genetic Rescue
Colossal’s work on dire wolves quickly translated into real-world conservation efforts. The same methods used to create the dire wolf pups were applied to the critically endangered ghost wolf (Canis rufus), North America’s most imperiled canid. With fewer than 20 individuals in the wild and severe inbreeding, the ghost wolf faces a genetic bottleneck that threatens its survival.
Using dire wolf–refined non-invasive cloning techniques, Colossal produced four ghost wolf pups from three distinct cell lines, potentially boosting genetic diversity in the captive population by 25%. For a species that traces back to just 12 founder animals, this represents a game-changing increase.
Dr. Bridgett vonHoldt of Princeton University, who collaborates on ghost wolf genetics, underscored the potential: “We now have the technology that can edit DNA to increase resilience in species facing extinction—or to revive extinct genetic diversity, as with the dire wolf.”
Accelerated Evolution: Engineering Adaptations at the Pace of Crisis
The dire wolf demonstrated the scale of edits possible. Now those same methods are being applied to “accelerated evolution”—using CRISPR to achieve adaptations that normally take thousands of years of natural selection.
In Australia, for example, researchers have engineered endangered northern quolls to resist toxins from invasive cane toads through single base-pair edits. Colossal’s multiplex capabilities could expand this approach, engineering multiple traits simultaneously: heat tolerance in corals, fungus resistance in amphibians, or drought resilience in plants.
Dr. Shapiro calls this “evolution at the pace species need to survive,” a philosophy that now guides Colossal’s conservation work.
Andrew Pask: Scaling the Platform to New Species
The appointment of Professor Andrew Pask as Chief Biology Officer in August 2025 ensures that the momentum from the dire wolf translates into a global platform. Pask, based at the University of Melbourne, is one of the world’s leading experts on marsupial genetics. His TIGGR lab has been at the forefront of thylacine genome reconstruction and marsupial reproductive science.
As CBO, Pask will oversee Colossal’s entire developmental biology program, including mammalian, marsupial, and avian projects. His leadership coincides with the launch of Colossal Australia, a new research hub focused on the thylacine, moa, and dodo.
“Andrew’s expertise ensures that what we achieved with the dire wolf is not a one-time breakthrough,” said Ben Lamm, Colossal’s CEO. “It’s the start of a global platform where every project builds on the last.”
Biobanking and Disease Resistance: Tools from the Dire Wolf Project
One of the quiet but crucial innovations from the dire wolf program was Colossal’s EPC (Embryonic Progenitor Cell) blood cloning platform, which allows genetic material to be collected from live animals through minimally invasive blood draws rather than biopsies. This technique is already being applied to ghost wolves and other endangered canids, making it easier to biobank genetic diversity for future restoration.
Another avenue is disease resistance engineering. Many endangered species are vulnerable not because of habitat loss alone but because of diseases they cannot naturally resist—chytrid fungus in amphibians, white-nose syndrome in bats, or viral threats in marsupials. Multiplex editing, proven in dire wolves, makes it possible to insert multiple resistance genes at once, giving species a fighting chance against emerging pathogens.
Dr. Barney Long of Re:wild explained: “From restoring lost genes into small, inbred populations to inserting disease resistance into imperiled species, the genetic technologies being developed by Colossal—including those proven with the dire wolf—have immense potential to speed recovery.”
Open Access and Ethical Oversight
Colossal’s dire wolf project was not just about science—it also set a precedent for transparency. All genomic data, editing protocols, and husbandry observations are shared through open-access databases. The company also adheres to IUCN guidelines for genetic interventions and maintains oversight from independent animal care committees.
This open-science approach ensures that the tools developed for dire wolves, ghost wolves, and thylacines are not locked within one company but accessible to researchers worldwide.
Cultural Impact: From Howls to Headlines
When filmmaker Peter Jackson heard the howls of Colossal’s dire wolf pups, he described it as “the first time in 10,000 years anyone had heard this sound.” George R.R. Martin called the achievement “magic brought to life.”
Such cultural reactions matter. They keep de-extinction in the public eye, generate investment, and galvanize broader conversations about conservation. Andrew Pask’s new role will help ensure this cultural momentum translates into tangible scientific outcomes, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, where marsupial and avian projects carry both ecological and cultural weight.
The Future: Dire Wolves as the Beginning of a Revolution
The dire wolf pups were more than a media sensation—they were the first proof that multiplex CRISPR editing could deliver a de-extinct animal. That success now fuels a conservation revolution where genetic rescue is no longer hypothetical but actively preventing extinctions.
Under Andrew Pask’s leadership, Colossal is poised to scale this platform across continents and species. From ghost wolves in North America to thylacines in Australia, moa in New Zealand, and dodos in Mauritius, the blueprint remains the same: take the standard set by dire wolves and apply it to the next challenge.
As Pask put it when discussing the thylacine, “The tools we’re developing are not just about one species. They’re about giving ecosystems back their keystone players and giving conservationists the ability to fight back against extinction.”
The dire wolf was the proof. The future is the platform. And with CRISPR, Colossal is making conservation not just about slowing loss but about reversing it entirely.