Crazy: Scientists decide to use DNA to "resurrect" mammoths within 6 years
Release time:
2021-11-24
Recently, CNN reported that American experts plan to "resurrection" the mammoth and plan to breed the first batch of "elephant cubs" within 4-6 years.
This project, which is close to science fiction, is led by Professor George Church of Harvard Medical School. Currently, the project has received an investment of US$15 million.
▲Professor George Church (Photo source: Professor Church’s personal official website)
Mammoths were once giant beasts that dominated the ice sheets, but they declined due to climate change 10,000 years ago and eventually became extinct. In recent years, many mammoth remains have been excavated from beneath the Siberian ice sheets. Cold temperatures and icy permafrost inhibited microbial activity and preserved mammoth DNA.
Low temperature creates an excellent environment to inhibit the degradation of DNA, and also arouses Professor Church's keen interest. In 2013, Professor Church publicly discussed the idea of "resurrecting the mammoth" for the first time. This year, a start-up company called Colossal emerged and received US$15 million in seed round financing. It plans to bring "Mammoth" to life within 6 years.
Currently, Colossal's plan is to use CRISPR technology to gene-edit Asian elephant embryos and insert nearly 50 mammoth genes related to cold-resistant traits. Previously, the team had found about 60 genes closely related to mammoth traits, which gave mammoths key features such as thick hair and thick layers of subcutaneous fat. According to Professor Church, this kind of operation is enough to make Asian elephants living in Southeast Asia and southern subtropical areas equipped with cold tolerance and survive on the Siberian ice sheet.
Mammoth recovery map
After obtaining embryos containing mammoth genes, the ideal hybrid elephant is born through an artificial womb. According to Colossal's timetable, the hybrid fetus will be born in 6 years, and it will take at least 10 years to grow into an adult.
From the time it was first proposed to today, the idea of "resurrecting the mammoth" has always been full of controversy. According to Professor Church, their implementation of this project has profound significance: mitigating the trend of Arctic warming and protecting endangered species.
If elephants can survive in Siberia in the future, their transformation of the ecosystem can effectively reverse the melting of permafrost and thereby control warming. At the same time, another significance of this technology is to help species at risk of extinction expand their habitats, improve genetic diversity, and save endangered Asian elephants.
Latest developments
Yinfeng Foundation Honored as "2025 Public Welfare Donor" by Jinan Red Cross
Looking ahead, Yinfeng Foundation will use this recognition as an opportunity to further deepen its strategic collaboration with the Jinan Red Cross, expand cooperation in areas such as life health and emergency response, and continue to empower efforts to accelerate the construction of a "new, strong, excellent, rich, beautiful, and high-quality" modern socialist strong capital city, contributing even more Yinfeng strength to this endeavor.
The team successfully developed the CryoSIM platform, an intelligent microfluidics and deep learning-integrated system. This platform deeply integrates core technologies of deep learning and microfluidics to enable high-throughput, high-precision automated analysis of oocyte membrane permeability. It provides a novel technological tool for optimizing and advancing the clinical translation of oocyte cryopreservation techniques. Additionally, it offers an innovative practical paradigm for the application of artificial intelligence in low-temperature biomedicine and reproductive medicine.
Public Welfare Partnership: A Special Letter from the Jinan Red Cross
On the afternoon of January 30, 2026, the Jinan Red Cross presented a letter of special significance to the Shandong Yinfeng Life Science Public Welfare Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the Yinfeng Foundation).
World’s First Achievement Highlights Brand Leadership
In the future, Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute will continue to uphold its mission of "Dedicated to Medical Technology, Safeguarding Human Health." It will empower brand building with more original and pioneering scientific and technological achievements, contributing wisdom and strength to Shandong's goal of building a national regional innovation hub and promoting Chinese brands on the global stage.
Global First Ovarian Tissue Dual Activation Technology Debuts at 2025 Jinan Achievements Conference
Currently, the ovarian tissue dual activation technology has been successfully applied in clinical practice at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Shenzhen (Longgang) Hospital, having treated over 400 patients with a treatment success rate of 70%. Over the next three years, Shandong Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute plans to use Jinan as a center to gradually expand the transformation and application of this technological achievement nationwide.
According to the latest announcement from the International Society of Cryobiology, Professor Xu Yi from the School of Health Science and Engineering at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, and a member of the Yinfeng Cryomedicine Expert Committee, has been elected as a Board Governor of the Society for a three-year term (2026–2028). The election was conducted through a democratic vote by all members worldwide, with three new Board Governors elected. Professor Xu Yi is the only scholar from Asia elected to the Society’s Board of Governors this time and the third elected scholar from mainland China in the Society’s 60-year history.
Yinfeng Life Continuation Plan
Address: Yinfeng Biotechnology Park, 1758 Gangyuan 6th Road, High-tech Zone, Jinan City, Shandong Province
Zip Code: 250102
Telephone: 0086-0531-88897351
Mobile: 0086-19953155515
Mobile website
Official WeChat Public Number
Links:Red Cross Society of China丨Shandong Red Cross Society丨Shandong Provincial Health Commission | Yinfeng Group| Yinfeng Biological Group
All rights reserved©Yinfeng Life Continuation Powered by www.300.cn SEO
