Colossal launches GenoMorph AI platform to accelerate dodo de-extinction

What's happening: Colossal Biosciences announced on 14 October 2026 that it has built a new AI platform, GenoMorph, to speed up its campaign to bring the extinct dodo back. The platform combines comparative genomics, developmental biology and high-resolution 3D morphology to predict which gene-regulatory elements drive differences in physical form — helping the company pick gene-editing targets even when genomic data for a species is thin.

Why it matters: Colossal says the dodo genome is now about 95% complete, and GenoMorph has pinpointed candidate regulatory DNA linked to the dodo's distinctive craniofacial anatomy. The company plans to use gene editing to introduce dodo traits into cells of the Nicobar pigeon, its closest living relative, while techniques adapted from earlier species programmes advance Nicobar pigeon germ-cell development, chicken stem-cell chimeras and embryo gene editing. This is one of the clearest signs yet that the de-extinction effort is moving from genome analysis toward actual cell engineering, and it positions the dodo alongside Colossal's better-known woolly mammoth and Tasmanian tiger programmes.

Context: The dodo was driven to extinction on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius in the 17th century. Colossal's stated goal is to return the species to the wild there. The work is part of the company's broader de-extinction and species-preservation business, which also spans genetic rescue of endangered animals.

Read more: Colossal via PR Newswire, 14 October 2026 · TechCrunch, 14 October 2026