{"id":168308,"date":"2026-02-17T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/168308\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T16:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:44:11","slug":"colossals-techy-new-hq-helps-dallas-startup-be-in-your-face-with-de-extinction-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/168308\/","title":{"rendered":"Colossal\u2019s techy new HQ helps Dallas startup be \u2018in your face\u2019 with de-extinction mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

An animatronic dire wolf looks around then tilts its head to greet you in the lobby. An animated megalodon shark circles its prey in a conference room made of floor-to-ceiling screens before striking and \u201cbreaking\u201d the glass. <\/p>\n

With design details in every nook and cranny, the headquarters of Colossal Biosciences<\/a> feels no less sci-fi than the startup\u2019s mission: to bring long-lost animals back from extinction. But behind its doors, there is hard science happening every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have literally every single piece of equipment you could ever want at your fingertips,\u201d said chief science officer Andrew Pask. \u201cThis is the thing that makes the difference in really being able to push this technology forward at a fast pace.\u201d <\/p>\n

Colossal, based in Dallas, allowed media to tour its new headquarters and lab last Thursday, which the company is unveiling after a phased move-in beginning last June. The 55,000-square-foot space (not to mention 4,000 square feet of additional animal management space downstairs and a 30,000-square-foot lab expansion already in the works) is a significant upgrade from its old digs<\/a>, a 25,000-square-foot area in what co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm called the \u201cWeWork of labs.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

The Dallas, Texas headquarters of Colossal Biosciences, a startup that aims to bring various animals, including the woolly mammoth and dodo bird, back from extinction.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Colossal Biosciences<\/p>\n

\"Quincy<\/p>\n

Quincy Preston of Dallas Innovates takes a photo of a display of a dire wolf at Colossal Biosciences before joining a tour to their new headquarters, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Chitose Suzuki \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Colossal employs 230 scientists and researchers, and the new space unites all of Colossal\u2019s main teams under one roof. Besides its genetically engineered dire wolves<\/a>, which live in a nature sanctuary outside Texas, there is lab and office space dedicated to Colossal\u2019s ongoing projects to resurrect the dodo bird, moa, woolly mammoth and thylacine. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t ask where the lab is, though, because the startup won\u2019t tell you. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we announced the woolly mice, we had people show up to one of our other locations, and they were like \u2018Can we see the little mice?\u2019 … or when people knew Peter [Jackson] and I were speaking in Cannes, we had people show up and wait at our hotel,\u201d Lamm said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited about the communication, but also, you know, we\u2019re not open to the public. This is not a theme park, it\u2019s our offices.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising the movie star-like following Colossal has attracted. After all, the company counts the likes of Tom Brady, Sophie Turner and Chris Hemsworth<\/a> as public supporters and investors. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"NFL<\/p>\n

But even with the side effects \u2014 and ensuing precautions \u2014 it\u2019s all part of a carefully curated branding strategy. <\/p>\n

Take a look at Colossal\u2019s website and you\u2019ll notice a very distinctive design language. The same language permeates the new headquarters, with murals on nearly every wall, screens and LEDs galore, and that unique family of fonts labeling everything from the cell culture lab to the bathrooms. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Dallas, Texas headquarters of Colossal Biosciences, a startup that aims to bring various animals, including the woolly mammoth and dodo bird, back from extinction.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Colossal Biosciences<\/p>\n

Lamm said that brand identity is something that\u2019s been curated from the very beginning, with a \u201cHarvard-meets-\u201980s MTV\u201d vibe to convey science that\u2019s as fun and irreverent as it is cutting edge. In the office, that identity fosters a dynamic environment where anything can happen. In the public sphere, it earns buy-in, because communicating Colossal\u2019s mission to address biodiversity loss and conserve the environment has always been almost equally as important as the science.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t compete with like science journals for attention and eyeballs. The people that want to be scientists at the right, appropriate age are reading the science journals, but we compete in the attention economy with Kardashians, right?\u201d Lamm said. <\/p>\n

That may sound cynical, but listening to Lamm, possessing a background in AI and gaming, proudly explain a laundry list of engagement metrics, it\u2019s clear the philosophy is working. <\/p>\n

\u201cSentiment analysis,\u201d he said, yielded 97.5% positive sentiment, and a string of percents within percents helped pinpoint what the 2.5% were mad about<\/a>. (\u201cYou can\u2019t please everybody,\u201d Lamm said.) Perhaps the money stat: according to Lamm, 30% of Colossal\u2019s investors invested because their kids told them about the company. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur view is that it\u2019s not our job to persuade, it\u2019s our job to educate and be transparent, and we hope through actions, not words, people come on that journey with us,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt James, chief animal officer at Colossal Biosciences, speaks to a reporter at their headquarter, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Chitose Suzuki \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Dallas, Texas headquarters of Colossal Biosciences, a startup that aims to bring various animals, including the woolly mammoth and dodo bird, back from extinction.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Colossal Biosciences<\/p>\n

That journey is only accelerating. About a year ago, Colossal hit a $10 billion valuation, and has since padded its purse with even more funding, bringing the total to more than $600 million. Since launching in 2021, it has started the Colossal Foundation<\/a>, spun off two companies, and acquired another<\/a>. It also officially expanded to Australia<\/a> and announced a permanent museum installation in Dubai<\/a>, all in the past six months. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Pictured<\/p>\n

All that investment has already paid off in the form of woolly mice and dire wolves born through genetic engineering<\/a>. And though the ultimate payoff of living woolly mammoths and dodo birds may be years or even decades away, there is more to be had sooner with the application of Colossal\u2019s de-extinction technologies to non-de-extinction problems. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to get to a future where we can feed 10 billion people on this planet, we need people to understand and accept GMO foods. But people obviously are a little bit worried about putting something in their mouth that they don\u2019t fully understand,\u201d said chief science officer Beth Shapiro as an example.<\/p>\n

In its own way, the animatronic dire wolf in Colossal\u2019s new lobby, just like the company\u2019s ever-presence in media and attachment to pop culture, helps that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the beautiful things about Colossal is it gives people an introduction to what it means to do genetic modification in a way that is safer and more acceptable. We\u2019re helping animals not become extinct … and this is the same technology that we can use to make a drought-resistant tomato,\u201d Shapiro said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving that conversation out loud, I think, is a step toward helping people to better understand what we can do,\u201d she continued. \u201cAnd I love that Colossal is doing that by being so in your face.\u201d<\/p>\n

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