Colossal Biosciences Partners With International Consortium to Restore Northern White Rhino Using DNA From Museum Specimens

Only two northern white rhinos survive. Najin and Fatu, both female and incapable of carrying a pregnancy, live under armed guard in Kenya; Colossal Biosciences and an international consortium from Kenya, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Czech Republic are working to restore the subspecies’s breeding population using a process the company calls “synthetic genetic rescue”: mining DNA from museum specimens of hunted rhinos to broaden genetic diversity, then using gene-editing and IVF to create new embryos for transfer into southern white rhino surrogates.

Matt James, Colossal’s chief animal officer, has placed the effort three to four years from results. Recovery, he said, is easier and less costly now than it would be after full extinction. Separately, pigeon primordial germ cells have been created. The company says they are the biological building blocks needed for its dodo restoration work.

This story is based on original reporting by The Times for The Times. Read the full feature on The Times → https://www.thetimes.com/uk/environment/article/sceintist-white-rhinos-kenya-pl6tx5qg9