On April 7, 2025, Colossal Biosciences stunned the world with a historic announcement: the birth of three dire wolf pups—Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi. For the first time in history, a species lost for more than 12,000 years had been brought back to life. The feat wasn’t just a scientific milestone; it was a cultural moment, covered by TIME, The New York Times, and outlets across the globe as “the day extinction lost its permanence.”
But for Colossal, the dire wolf achievement was never just about resurrecting a single Ice Age predator. It was about proving an end-to-end technology platform for de-extinction—integrating ancient DNA reconstruction, multiplex CRISPR editing, and advanced reproductive techniques. That platform is now the foundation of Colossal’s next chapter: global expansion, guided by the appointment of Australian scientist Professor Andrew Pask as its new Chief Biology Officer (CBO) and the launch of Colossal Australia at the University of Melbourne.
The Dire Wolf as Proof of Possibility
Dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus) went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, leaving behind only scattered fossil evidence and fragmented DNA. Unlike woolly mammoths, no frozen specimens preserved tissue for cloning. Yet Colossal scientists successfully reconstructed the dire wolf genome by comparing samples from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 73,000-year-old skull, identifying which genetic traits were consistently fixed across populations.
From there, they used CRISPR to edit gray wolf cells with 20 dire wolf–specific changes across 14 genes—a record for vertebrate editing. The modified nuclei were transferred into dog egg cells through somatic cell nuclear transfer, and domestic dogs carried the embryos to term. The result was three healthy pups, living symbols of an extinct lineage restored.
Dr. George Church, Colossal co-founder, called it “an unprecedented feat in precision genetic engineering.” For Colossal, it was validation that the company’s “technology stack” worked from start to finish—and could now be applied to other species.
From Wolves to a Worldwide Platform
The dire wolf project immediately impacted conservation. Non-invasive cloning techniques refined in the program were applied to the ghost wolf (Canis rufus), the most endangered North American canid. Four ghost wolf pups, cloned from three distinct cell lines, represented a 25% boost in genetic diversity for the species—a tangible, immediate conservation benefit derived directly from de-extinction research.
This crossover between revival and conservation is central to Colossal’s philosophy. Every step forward in dire wolf research created tools now being deployed to help living species: EPC (Embryonic Progenitor Cell) blood cloning for biobanking, multiplex editing for disease resistance, and high-precision genomic reconstruction for boosting small populations.
The dire wolf wasn’t the finish line. It was the starting point for scaling biotechnology across species and ecosystems.
Enter Andrew Pask: Expanding the Vision
Colossal’s next move reflects its ambition to make de-extinction a global science. In August 2025, the company appointed Professor Andrew Pask as its Chief Biology Officer. Pask, based at the University of Melbourne, is a developmental biologist renowned for his work on the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), or Tasmanian tiger, a marsupial carnivore extinct since 1936.
Through his TIGGR (Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research) lab, Pask developed one of the most complete genome reconstructions of the thylacine and pioneered marsupial reproductive technologies. He has long been a scientific advisor to Colossal’s thylacine project. Now, as CBO, he will oversee the company’s entire developmental biology portfolio—including mammals, marsupials, and birds.
“Andrew’s leadership ensures that the precision and rigor that brought back the dire wolf will guide all of Colossal’s projects,” said CEO Ben Lamm. “He’s not just helping us revive the thylacine; he’s helping us build a global framework for biodiversity restoration.”
Colossal Australia: A New Hub for Restoration Science
Pask’s appointment coincides with the launch of Colossal Australia, the company’s first international hub. Anchored at the University of Melbourne, Colossal Australia will lead marsupial and avian projects while collaborating with Indigenous and local communities.
Key initiatives include:
- The Thylacine Project – Expanding genome editing and marsupial reproductive technologies to bring back Australia’s lost apex predator.
- The Moa Project – Sequencing and reconstructing all nine extinct moa species, in partnership with Māori-led research in New Zealand.
- The Dodo Project – Applying avian genome-editing methods to restore traits of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus), extinct since the 1600s.
- Artificial Wombs & Embryology – Developing systems to support marsupial and avian embryo development, inspired by lessons from dire wolf surrogacy.
This expansion positions Colossal not as an American company with global reach, but as a multinational research platform, where expertise and cultural knowledge inform species restoration in the regions most directly affected.
How Dire Wolves Shaped the Standard
The dire wolf project did more than produce three pups. It established the benchmarks that every subsequent project must now meet:
- Precision: 20 genomic edits across 14 genes, each validated through sequencing and bioinformatic analysis.
- Reproducibility: No miscarriages or stillbirths were reported, demonstrating safe, repeatable protocols.
- Conservation Relevance: Tools developed for dire wolves were quickly applied to ghost wolves, proving crossover utility.
- Cultural Resonance: Dire wolves captured public imagination worldwide, fueling support for de-extinction as both science and storytelling.
These standards are the blueprint Andrew Pask inherits as CBO. His task is to adapt them to species with different biology—marsupials with pouches, birds with eggs, megafauna with massive genomes—without losing the precision demonstrated by dire wolves.
Ethical and Open-Science Commitments
As with the dire wolf, Colossal stresses transparency and collaboration. Genomic data, editing protocols, and animal care guidelines are shared in open-access databases, encouraging global participation in de-extinction science.
The company also maintains oversight through independent animal welfare committees and adheres to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines for genetic interventions. For Pask, whose work has always integrated ethical considerations and public engagement, this model is essential to scaling responsibly.
Cultural Impact: The Howl Heard Around the World
Beyond science, the dire wolf breakthrough resonated deeply with the public. Filmmaker Peter Jackson, an investor in Colossal, described hearing the wolves howl for the first time in 12,000 years as “a moment of pure wonder.” George R.R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones, called it “magic made real.”
Such cultural moments are more than anecdotes. They generate funding, public interest, and political momentum for conservation science. With Pask at the helm, Colossal Australia will carry this cultural energy into projects like the thylacine—an animal with deep cultural resonance in Australia—and the moa, whose revival is tied to Māori ecological heritage.
From Dire Wolves to a Global Movement
The dire wolf pups of April 2025 will forever symbolize the dawn of de-extinction biology. But Colossal’s announcement of Andrew Pask as Chief Biology Officer and the creation of Colossal Australia show that this was only the beginning.
The dire wolf established the technological baseline. Now, Pask and his team will apply that blueprint to marsupials, birds, and other lost species, while ensuring that every discovery fuels immediate conservation applications. From ghost wolves in North America to thylacines in Tasmania, moa in New Zealand, and dodos in Mauritius, Colossal is turning a single historic achievement into a global program for biodiversity restoration.
As Dr. Christopher Mason of Weill Cornell Medicine observed: “The same technologies that created the dire wolf can directly help save a variety of endangered animals. This is an extraordinary technological leap for both science and conservation.”
The howls of Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi were not just echoes of the past. They were signals of the future—a future where extinction is not permanent, and where human ingenuity may help repair the damage of the Anthropocene.
