“There are a number of efforts to genetically modify mosquitoes so that they will have mass die-outs or so that they won’t be able to carry particular diseases like dengue or malaria,” he says. “I worry about our losing control of some of those efforts, because mosquitoes—even though they carry diseases that are bad for people—occupy a niche in ecology, in that they’re eaten by certain kinds of birds.”
There’s precedent for this kind of genetic hegemony beyond the cane toad. Asian carp, introduced into the U.S. in the 1970s by the aquaculture industry, are overwhelming the Great Lakes, crowding out other species. Burmese pythons, imported to the U.S. as exotic pets, have established a similar invasive niche in the Everglades, released there by owners who tired of caring for them.
Colossal scientists are pressing ahead nonetheless, and the company is already thriving in an adaptive niche of its own—not just as a scientific enterprise, but as a formidable business. It has reached decacorn status, currently valued at $10.2 billion, and while it may not be easy to monetize a mammoth or a dodo or a dire wolf pup, Lamm sees plenty of commercial potential in the technologies his scientific team is developing. Colossal has spun off two new companies so far. One, called Breaking, uses engineered microbes and enzymes to break down plastic waste. The other, Form Bio, provides AI and computational biology platforms for drug development. And none of that touches Colossal’s core expertise in cellular and genetic engineering, which has uncounted applications in the biomed domain, including treating and preventing diseases. “Those genome-engineering technologies alone are worth tens of billions of dollars,” says Lamm.
