Beth Shapiro

De-Extinction Paleogenomicist

Beth Shapiro is Chief Science Officer at Colossal Biosciences, the de-extinction company that aims to bring back the woolly mammoth—or, more precisely, a hirsute cold-resistant elephant with all of the core biological traits of the woolly mammoth. Earlier this year, Colossal took the historic first step toward reviving a long-extinct species, by bioengineering three large white canines, named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi, with core traits of dire wolves, which have been extinct for 10,000 years.

Today, animals are going extinct at an alarming rate. Biologists estimate that approximately 30,000 animal species are vanishing each year and warn that nearly half of all species could become extinct by 2050. Colossal has a ground-breaking and controversial approach to promoting biodiversity: Reverse and curtail extinction by bioengineering charismatic megafauna and other animals with genes that better enable them to survive a warming, less hospitable planet.