{"id":908329,"date":"2026-11-06T20:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T20:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/908329\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T20:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T20:16:09","slug":"scientist-stole-trade-secrets-from-startup-that-wants-to-bring-back-extinct-species-bombshell-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/908329\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientist stole trade secrets from startup that wants to bring back extinct species: bombshell suit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colossal Biosciences \u2013 a futuristic startup working to bring back extinct species<\/a> including the woolly mammoth \u2013 is suing one of its former scientists for allegedly stealing trade secrets and sharing the data with competing labs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a bombshell lawsuit filed Friday morning in Texas federal court in Austin, Colossal accused James Kehler, formerly its vice president of animal sciences and later of BioSynergy, of \u201cdishonesty, greed, and the betrayal of the confidential science at the heart of Colossal\u2019s mission.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Dallas-based firm \u2013 which has so far succeeded in creating \u201cwoolly mice\u201d that bear woolly mammoth traits and gray wolves similar to the extinct dire wolf \u2013 claimed Kehler breached three of the contracts he signed with the company after he left for rival labs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scientists at Colossal Biosciences create genetically engineered mice in an effort to revive woolly mammoths. Colossal Biosciences<\/p>\n

Forensic analysis of Kehler\u2019s Colossal work laptop found that prior to leaving the company, he moved files containing confidential information to a personal cloud account and multiple personal devices, the suit alleged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colossal is being represented by Alex Spiro, the hard-charging attorney at New York law firm Quinn Emanuel, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Kehler did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

As a vice president at Colossal, Kehler \u2013 who lives in Maryland \u2013 had access to the company\u2019s most sensitive scientific information, including data on its avian programs, like work on the dodo bird and the moa, a large, wingless bird formerly found in New Zealand, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Around April 14, 2026, after resigning from Colossal, Kehler joined Neion Bio \u2013 a competing lab \u2013 as Head of Avian Sciences and \u201cused and disclosed Colossal trade secret and confidential information,\u201d the suit alleged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

James Kehler (above) is accused of misappropriating trade secrets. Neion Bio<\/p>\n

He has also been linked to Felix Pets, a startup that claims to use gene-editing technology to develop hypoallergenic cats \u2013 a process that \u201cdepends on the same research and know-how underlying Colossal\u2019s de-extinction work,\u201d according to the suit.<\/p>\n

Colossal is seeking damages, alleging Kehler \u201cpivoted from scientist to thief.\u201d The lab argued that the safeguarding of its proprietary info is key to its efforts to bring back extinct species whose ecosystems have been harmed without them.<\/p>\n

It is currently working on the woolly mammoth; dodo; thylacine, a cat-like carnivore with massive jaws also known as the Tasmanian tiger; and dire wolf, a 150-pound-plus creature with thicker legs, wider heads and broader shoulders than today\u2019s wolves.<\/p>\n

The startup raised $200 million in a January 2025 funding round led by TWG Global \u2013 the investment firm co-founded by Mark Walter and Thomas Tull \u2013 that hiked its valuation to $10.2 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The startup raised $200 million in a January 2025 funding round. Colossal Biosciences<\/p>\n

Notable investors include Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, the Oscar-winning film duo behind \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d and \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d and hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.<\/p>\n

Colossal has raised at least $435 million since it was founded in 2021 by billionaire entrepreneur Ben Lamm and geneticist George Church, a professor at Harvard and MIT.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cColossal\u2019s trade secrets and confidential information are the core of its competitive advantage and its ability to achieve its de-extinction mission,\u201d the company said in its complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unauthorized use or disclosure of that information \u2013 particularly to a competitor \u2013 would allow others to replicate in days or weeks what took Colossal years to develop, and at a fraction of the cost. Such unauthorized use or disclosure would inflict severe and irreparable harm on Colossal and on the goals it exists to achieve.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

At its Dallas lab, Colossal said its scientists process tissue samples from endangered animals, edit genomes and work to reprogram stem cells with the goal of undoing a large-scale loss of biodiversity, revive extinct species and preserve endangered species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colossal Biosciences \u2013 a futuristic startup working to bring back extinct species including the woolly mammoth \u2013 is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1147,28,37129,3130,79,6702,1166,172,1022],"class_list":["post-908329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-animals","tag-business","tag-dinosaurs","tag-lawsuits","tag-science","tag-science-fiction","tag-startups","tag-tech","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}