Colossal Biosciences Is Making Jurassic Park Look Like a Pitch Deck
Modern biotechnology labs are driving advances in gene editing and de-extinction researchDear Cherubs, Dallas has apparently decided extinction is just a product category. Colossal Biosciences is now a billionaire-level biotech spectacle, with the company saying its latest Series C brought total funding to $615 million and ABC News reporting a roster of celebrity backers that includes Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, Paris Hilton and Peter Jackson. Dallas Innovates also reported that the CIA’s venture arm, In-Q-Tel, invested in Colossal back in 2022.
The result is a company that sounds like it was brainstormed by a film studio, a venture fund and a very committed science teacher. Colossal says it is working on de-extinction projects tied to the woolly mammoth, dodo, thylacine and dire wolf, using gene editing, synthetic biology and related conservation tools. So no, this is not literally Jurassic Park; it is more like Jurassic Park after legal review and a lot of grant money.
THE TEA, BUT WITH MICROPIPETTES
In April, Reuters reported that Colossal announced three genetically engineered wolf pups and called them the world’s first successfully “de-extincted” animals, while outside experts were more cautious and described them as genetically modified gray wolves with added dire-wolf traits. ABC News said Colossal edited gray wolf cells at multiple sites and noted the two species are about 99.5% genetically identical, which is a very impressive number and also a reminder that biology is rude and complicated.
That is the key detail the movie version never pauses for: the company is not dusting off a frozen dinosaur and pressing play. It is using ancient DNA, gene editing and surrogate biology to create something that resembles an extinct species closely enough to trigger headlines, debates and a healthy amount of side-eye. The label “de-extincted” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
WHY THE MONEY FLOWS
The money makes more sense when you look at the technology stack. Dallas Innovates reported that In-Q-Tel said its interest in Colossal was “less about the mammoths and more about the capability,” while Colossal’s own materials say the work could scale CRISPR, synthetic biology, artificial wombs and genomic preservation platforms. In other words, the extinct-animal angle is the headline; the platform is the business.
Colossal has also built a pop-culture-friendly halo around the science. Its advisory board page lists Tom Brady and George R.R. Martin among its cultural advisors, which is exactly the kind of sentence that makes the internet stop scrolling for a second. That is the trick here: make de-extinction feel part science, part blockbuster, part meme, and suddenly the cap table looks almost inevitable.
The hot take is simple: this is not a cartoonish clone factory, and it is not pure hype either. It is a very expensive attempt to push gene editing, cloning-adjacent methods and reproductive tech into territory that could one day matter for conservation as much as spectacle. The dinosaurs are still fiction, but the lab bills are extremely real.
Sources list
ABC News — https://abcnews.go.com/US/dire-wolf-revived-biotech-companys-de-extinction-process/story?id=120558562
Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/science/us-company-resurrects-extinct-dire-wolf-or-some-version-it-2025-04-08/
Dallas Innovates — https://dallasinnovates.com/mammoth-interest-the-cia-invests-in-dallas-based-colossal-biosciences/
Colossal Biosciences — https://colossal.com/colossal-secures-200m-to-accelerate-de-extinction-and-genomic-innovation/
Colossal Biosciences — https://colossal.com/advisors/
Wikimedia Commons (Laboratory.jpg) — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laboratory.jpg
This faetouched direwolf will be part of a diorama I prepared for the #bembelminiaturecup26 🤫 that's why it has no base!
It will be my first ever competition and to say I'm not nervous would be a big lie 😅 only two weeks left! But I'm just in it for the fun and meeting people with the same hobby! I think it's a great possibility to connect.
I love how Coding agents allow me to implement the crazy ideas in my head! Checkout my TUI (Terminal UI) client for APRS. It now supports #digirig #mobilinkd and #direwolf. Check it out https://github.com/eusef/eusef-aprs-tui.
#amateurradio #emcomm #ham #hamradio #tui #terminalui #mapscii #
This faetouched direwolf will be part of a diorama I am preparing for the #bembelminiaturecup26 🤫 that's why it has no base!
It will be my first ever competition and to say I'm not nervous would be a big lie 😅 only two weeks left! But I'm just in it for the fun and meeting people with the same hobby! I think it's a great possibility to connect. So: will anybody here also be at the Bembel mini cup?
Would love to hear from you!
Can't get #DireWolf to actually transmit the packet audio burst via my FT-991a. I have this config setting:
Patrick ON4CDJ
Thoughtful Disclaimer
monniatures
Phil
monniatures
Neil E. HodgesADEVICE plughw:CODEC,0 VID PID Product Sound ADEVICE ADEVICE HID [ptt]
--- --- ------- ----- ------- ------- ---------
08bb 29b3 USB Audio CODEC /dev/snd/controlC0 /dev/hidraw0
08bb 29b3 USB Audio CODEC /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c plughw:0,0 plughw:CODEC,0 /dev/hidraw0
08bb 29b3 USB Audio CODEC /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p plughw:0,0 plughw:CODEC,0 /dev/hidraw0Bus 001 Device 017: ID 08bb:29b3 Texas Instruments PCM2903B Audio CODECI'm listening in on 144.390 MHz on my handheld while my FT-991a is transmitting, but all I get is the transmission starting and ending with no audio inside it. Any suggestions?
Can't get #DireWolf to actually transmit the packet audio burst via my FT-991a. I have this config setting:
Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】
ADEVICE plughw:CODEC,0
Which corresponds to these devices:
VID PID Product Sound ADEVICE ADEVICE HID [ptt]
--- --- ------- ----- ------- ------- ---------
08bb 29b3 USB Audio CODEC /dev/snd/controlC0 /dev/hidraw0
08bb 29b3 USB Audio CODEC /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c plughw:0,0 plughw:CODEC,0 /dev/hidraw0
08bb 29b3 USB Audio CODEC /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p plughw:0,0 plughw:CODEC,0 /dev/hidraw0
Bus 001 Device 017: ID 08bb:29b3 Texas Instruments PCM2903B Audio CODEC
I'm listening in on 144.390 MHz on my handheld while my FT-991a is transmitting, but all I get is the transmission starting and ending with no audio inside it. Any suggestions?
Anyone know why #DireWolf is hellbent on using /dev/ttyS0 with hamlib? I have this in direwolf.conf, which should force it to use /dev/ttyUSB1:
PTT RIG 1035 /dev/ttyUSB1 38400
But it refuses:
Dire Wolf version 1.7
Includes optional support for: gpsd hamlib cm108-ptt
Reading config file direwolf.conf
Audio device for both receive and transmit: plughw:0,0 (channel 0)
Channel 0: 1200 baud, AFSK 1200 & 2200 Hz, A+, 44100 sample rate.
Hamlib determined CAT control serial port rate of 38400.
User configuration overriding hamlib CAT control speed to 38400.
Retrying Hamlib Rig open...
Retrying Hamlib Rig open...
^C
QRT
Hamlib Error: rig_set_ptt command for channel 0 PTT
rig.c(947):rig_open entered
rig_settings_get_path: path=.config/hamlib_settings
rig_open: async_data_enable=0, async_data_supported=0
serial_open: /dev/ttyS0
serial_open(335): open failed#1 No such file or directory
serial_open: Unable to open /dev/ttyS0 - No such file or directory
port_open: serial_open(/dev/ttyS0) status=-6, err=No such file or directory
rig.c(1178):rig_open returning2(-6) IO error
rig.c(947):rig_open entered
rig_settings_get_path: path=.config/hamlib_settings
rig_open: async_data_enable=0, async_data_supported=0
serial_open: /dev/ttyS0
serial_open(335): open failed#1 No such file or directory
serial_open: Unable to open /dev/ttyS0 - No such file or directory
port_open: serial_open(/dev/ttyS0) status=-6, err=No such file or directory
rig.c(1178):rig_open returning2(-6) IO error
rig_set_ptt: rig or rig->caps is null
Invalid parameter
?WATCH={"enable":false,"json":false};
If I make /dev/ttyS0 a symlink to /dev/ttyUSB1, it works flawlessly. What gives? 
Anyone know why #DireWolf is hellbent on using /dev/ttyS0 with hamlib? I have this in direwolf.conf, which should force it to use /dev/ttyUSB1:
PTT RIG 1035 /dev/ttyUSB1 38400Dire Wolf version 1.7
Includes optional support for: gpsd hamlib cm108-ptt
Reading config file direwolf.conf
Audio device for both receive and transmit: plughw:0,0 (channel 0)
Channel 0: 1200 baud, AFSK 1200 & 2200 Hz, A+, 44100 sample rate.
Hamlib determined CAT control serial port rate of 38400.
User configuration overriding hamlib CAT control speed to 38400.
Retrying Hamlib Rig open...
Retrying Hamlib Rig open...
^C
QRT
Hamlib Error: rig_set_ptt command for channel 0 PTT
rig.c(947):rig_open entered
rig_settings_get_path: path=.config/hamlib_settings
rig_open: async_data_enable=0, async_data_supported=0
serial_open: /dev/ttyS0
serial_open(335): open failed#1 No such file or directory
serial_open: Unable to open /dev/ttyS0 - No such file or directory
port_open: serial_open(/dev/ttyS0) status=-6, err=No such file or directory
rig.c(1178):rig_open returning2(-6) IO error
rig.c(947):rig_open entered
rig_settings_get_path: path=.config/hamlib_settings
rig_open: async_data_enable=0, async_data_supported=0
serial_open: /dev/ttyS0
serial_open(335): open failed#1 No such file or directory
serial_open: Unable to open /dev/ttyS0 - No such file or directory
port_open: serial_open(/dev/ttyS0) status=-6, err=No such file or directory
rig.c(1178):rig_open returning2(-6) IO error
rig_set_ptt: rig or rig->caps is null
Invalid parameter
?WATCH={"enable":false,"json":false};/dev/ttyS0 a symlink to /dev/ttyUSB1, it works flawlessly. What gives? :/
adingbatponder 
👾