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Two of biotechnology’s most prolific and far-sighted researchers say they’re teaming up to start a company that intends to rewrite the rules of animal reproduction.
The company, provisionally named Ark Corporation, is being cofounded by stem-cell pioneer Robert Lanza and Harvard Medical School DNA expert George Church.
I heard about the startup last Friday at TEDx DeExtinction, a gathering of conservationists and molecular biologists interested in bringing wooly mammoths, Tasmanian tigers, and other extinct species back to life (see “An Unlikely Plan to Revive the Passenger Pigeon”).
It’s interesting stuff. Who wouldn’t want to see a saber-toothed tiger?
But here’s the deal: the very same biotechnologies needed to reanimate lost species are going to have far, far greater financial and social impact when they’re applied to commercial breeding of livestock, pets, and even humans.
“There are just so many downstream implications,” says Lanza, who is chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology, a stem cell company.
Ark, he says, hopes to help revive some extinct species, including a Spanish mountain goat. But the company’s real aim...
The company, provisionally named Ark Corporation, is being cofounded by stem-cell pioneer Robert Lanza and Harvard Medical School DNA expert George Church.
I heard about the startup last Friday at TEDx DeExtinction, a gathering of conservationists and molecular biologists interested in bringing wooly mammoths, Tasmanian tigers, and other extinct species back to life (see “An Unlikely Plan to Revive the Passenger Pigeon”).
It’s interesting stuff. Who wouldn’t want to see a saber-toothed tiger?
But here’s the deal: the very same biotechnologies needed to reanimate lost species are going to have far, far greater financial and social impact when they’re applied to commercial breeding of livestock, pets, and even humans.
“There are just so many downstream implications,” says Lanza, who is chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology, a stem cell company.
Ark, he says, hopes to help revive some extinct species, including a Spanish mountain goat. But the company’s real aim...