Η company Dallas-based biotech Colossal Biosciences has a vision: "To see the Woolly Mammoth alive on the tundra once again."
The founders of the company George Church and Ben Lamm have already assembled an impressive list of high-profile funders and investors. They include Peter Thiel, Tony Robbins, Paris Hilton, Winklevoss Capital and, according to the public portfolio released this month, the CIA.
Colossal says that he hopes to use advanced genetic sequencing to resurrect two extinct mammals – not just the giant mammoth from the Ice Age, but also a medium-sized marsupial known as the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, which died nearly a century ago.
On its website, the company states:
“Combining the science of genetics with its business discoverys, we are trying to initiate the heartbeat of nature's ancestors".
Η In-Q-Tel, its new investor, is registered as a non-profit venture capital firm funded by the CIA.
The group was founded to fund technology startups that have the potential to protect national security.
In addition to the CIA's long-standing pursuit of information and weapons technologies, the agency has recently shown an increased interest in biotechnology and particularly DNA sequence.
