Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life | Dr. Beth Shapiro

Dr. Beth Shapiro, PhD, is an evolutionary biologist and Chief Science Officer at Colossal Biosciences. Her work focuses on de-extinction and wildlife conservation efforts. We discuss genetic differences among humans, and how ancient DNA and modern embryology are being used to de-extinct and protect woolly mammoths, dodo birds, and dire wolves, as well as to help conserve endangered species. We also explore the ethical implications of de-extinction and how synthetic biology can help build a more bio diverse and resilient world.

Articles

• A draft sequence of the Neandertal genome (Science)
• The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia (Nature)
• Genetic history of an archaic hominin group from Denisova Cave in Siberia (Nature)
• A polar bear paleogenome reveals extensive ancient gene flow from polar bears into brown bears (Nature Ecology & Evolution)
• Genomic evidence for island population conversion resolves conflicting theories of polar bear evolution (PLoS Genetics)
• A melanocortin 1 receptor allele suggests varying pigmentation among Neanderthals (Science)
• The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals (Nature)
• Million-year-old DNA sheds light on the genomic history of mammoths (Nature)
• Facultative parthenogenesis in California condors (Journal of Heredity)
• Dire wolves were the last of an ancient New World canid lineage (Nature)
• Transmission of a fatal clonal tumor by biting occurs due to depleted MHC diversity in a threatened carnivorous marsupial (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
• Black-footed ferret gene restoration (Animal Conservation)
• Genetic restoration of the Florida panther (Science)
• Patient-specific in vivo gene editing to treat a rare genetic disease (The New England Journal of Medicine)
• DNA sequences from the quagga, an extinct member of the horse family (Nature)

Books

• How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction by Beth Shapiro
• Life as We Made It: How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined—and Redefined—Nature by Beth Shapiro
• The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible! by Otto Bettmann

Other Resources

• De-extinction (Colossal Biosciences)
• De-extinction species index (Colossal Biosciences)
• Published research (Colossal Biosciences)
• Colossal Biosciences on Instagram
• Colossal Biosciences on X
• Pleistocene Park
• Jurassic Park
• The Return of the Dire Wolf (TIME)
• USDA deregulates American chestnut engineered for enhanced blight tolerance
• Wolf restoration in Yellowstone: reintroduction to recovery
• Advancements for black-footed ferret conservation continue with new offspring from a cloned ferret
• Black-footed ferrets: top milestones for a species once presumed extinct
• Restoring the ancestral red wolf through genetic rescue
• Times Machine (The New York Times)

Huberman Lab Episodes Mentioned

• What Pets Actually Want & Need | Dr. Karolina Westlund
• Dr. Bernardo Huberman: How to Use Curiosity & Focus to Create a Joyful & Meaningful Life
• Raising a Dog & Mastering Calm Assertive Energy | Cesar Millan
• How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter
• How to Accelerate Learning & Improve Education | Joe Liemandt

People Mentioned

• Ernst Mayr: evolutionary biologist, species-concept pioneer
• Carolus Linnaeus: botanist, taxonomist
• Richard Green: professor of biomolecular engineering, UC Santa Cruz; paleogenomics
• Svante Pääbo: director, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; paleogeneticist
• Sergey Zimov: Arctic ecologist; founder of Pleistocene Park
• Nikita Zimov: director of Pleistocene Park and Northeast Science Station; Arctic ecologist
• Richard Harland: professor of genetics, genomics, evolution, and development, UC Berkeley
• Ben Lamm: co-founder and CEO, Colossal Biosciences
• Elinor Karlsson: director of vertebrate genomics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
• Leslie Vosshall: vice president and chief scientific officer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• Antonio Regalado: senior editor, biomedicine, MIT Technology Review
• Bridgett vonHoldt: professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, Princeton University
• Alan Cooper: evolutionary genomics researcher
• Allan C. Wilson: molecular evolution pioneer
• Howard Hughes: aviator, engineer, philanthropist