Colossal Biosciences hatches chicks in 3D printed artificial eggshell

A biotechnology company focused on de-extinction announced Tuesday that it has successfully hatched live chicks from an artificial vessel, marking a significant step in its long-term goal of resurrecting extinct avian species. According to Colossal Biosciences, twenty-six healthy chickens, ranging from a few days to several months old, were born from a 3D-printed lattice structure designed to mimic an eggshell.

The company’s CEO, Ben Lamm, stated that this artificial egg technology could eventually be scaled up to support the revival of large extinct birds, such as New Zealand’s South Island giant moa. The eggs of the moa, which was hunted to extinction centuries ago, are approximately eighty times larger than a chicken egg, presenting a major challenge for any potential modern surrogate. “We wanted to build something that nature has done a pretty good job of developing and make it better and scalable and even more efficient,” Lamm said.

The process involved pouring fertilized chicken eggs into the artificial system, placing them in an incubator, and supplementing them with calcium, which embryos normally absorb from a shell. The company’s design includes a membrane that allows...