Colossal Biosciences and US Fish and Wildlife Service Partner to Biobank Every Endangered Species

The partnership will collect, sequence, and cryopreserve cell samples from all 2,100-plus U.S. endangered species, with data open-sourced to researchers worldwide and some samples to be engineered into pluripotent stem cells for future use.

The goal is total coverage. Colossal Biosciences and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are partnering to collect and cryopreserve cell and tissue samples of every species on the U.S. Endangered Species List, which covers more than 2,100 species, all to be fully sequenced into complete digital records of each genome and open-sourced to researchers worldwide.

The goal was described by Colossal CEO Ben Lamm as a digital twin of nature. The partnership builds on Colossal’s existing Dallas biobank, which already holds cryopreserved material from roughly 200 species. Plans also call for engineering some samples into induced pluripotent stem cells, biological blank slates that can be reprogrammed into any cell type for future genetic rescue or climate adaptation.

This story is based on original reporting by Jeffrey Kluger for TIME. Read the full feature on TIME → https://time.com/article/2026/06/25/colossal-biosciences-fish-wildlife-services-endangered-species/