Colossal’s Three-Year Plan to Create Cane Toad-Resistant Northern Quolls

Colossal says a single-gene edit could help northern quolls survive toxic cane toads, with the first resistant joeys possible within 2–4 years.

Colossal Biosciences is pursuing a rapid conservation genetics program to help northern quolls survive the spread of invasive cane toads in Australia. Chief biology officer Professor Andrew Pask says the team now has a clear pathway to engineer toxin resistance by editing a single gene, with the first cane toad-resistant quoll potentially born within 2–4 years. Colossal has already demonstrated poison-resistance edits in the fat-tailed dunnart and is building the marsupial gene-editing and embryo pipeline needed to translate that work to quolls. If successful, resistant quolls could rebound and prey on toads, reducing ecological harm.

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