By Patrick Reilly
Published Dec. 26, 2023,
Scientists around the world are working to revive ancient ice-capsulated cells to find new sources of life-saving medicine and possibly bring back a long-extinct species, like the dodo bird.
The science, called resurrection biology, has made immense progress over the past year as researchers in the field turn to the past for solutions for the future, CNN reported.
While the scientists aren’t looking to bring back the dinosaurs à la Jurassic Park — although some have goals to resurrect lost plant and animal species — they hope studying the prehistoric cells can reveal new sources for drugs as well as ways to thwart dangerous long-dormant pathogens.
The research also offers a look into human history and how our ancestors lived and died thousands of years ago, according to CNN.
Resurrection biology scientists work on “zombie viruses” found in ancient ice, including the ancient “pandora” virus from thawing permafrost pictured here.
Jean-Michel Claverie/IGS/CNRS-AM
Jean-Michel Claverie, a professor emeritus of medicine and genomics at the Aix-Marseille University School of Medicine in Marseille, France, has been identifying possible “zombie viruses” lurking in the permafrost of Siberia.
Viruses that have been buried for tens of thousands of years could come back and potentially devastate life on Earth as global temperatures rise and the ice melts.
In 2014, Claverie isolated a virus researchers found in the permafrost and revived it by inserting it into cultured cells — making it infectious for the first time in 30,000 years, according to CNN.
Then this past February, he and his team isolated several strains of an ancient virus from multiple samples of Earth representing five new families of previously unknown viruses. They only infected single-cell organisms with the virus in their research as a safety precaution. The samples dated between 48,500 and 27,000 years old.
These zombie viruses pose a significant threat to humanity, Claverie told CNN.
“We view these amoeba-infecting viruses as surrogates for all other possible viruses that might be in the permafrost,” the professor said.
Jean-Michel Claverie, a professor emeritus of medicine and genomics at the Aix-Marseille University School of Medicine in Marseille, France, has been identifying possible “zombie viruses” lurking in the permafrost of Siberia.
Viruses that have been buried for tens of thousands of years could come back and potentially devastate life on Earth as global temperatures rise and the ice melts.
In 2014, Claverie isolated a virus researchers found in the permafrost and revived it by inserting it into cultured cells — making it infectious for the first time in 30,000 years, according to CNN.
Then this past February, he and his team isolated several strains of an ancient virus from multiple samples of Earth representing five new families of previously unknown viruses. They only infected single-cell organisms with the virus in their research as a safety precaution. The samples dated between 48,500 and 27,000 years old.
These zombie viruses pose a significant threat to humanity, Claverie told CNN.
“We view these amoeba-infecting viruses as surrogates for all other possible viruses that might be in the permafrost,” the professor said.
Environmental virologist Jean-Michel Claverie has been identifying viruses dormant for years in the arctic ice. SVFU
“Our reasoning is that if the amoeba viruses are still alive, there is no reason why the other viruses will not be still alive, and capable of infecting their own hosts.”
Other “resurrection biologists” are studying the ancient specimens as a potential source for antibiotics to fight pathogens that have become increasingly resistant to overused conventional treatments.
César de la Fuente, Presidential Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and his team of researchers are analyzing genetic information from Neanderthals and extinct animal species to find small protein or peptide molecules they believe to have bacteria-fighting powers.
“Bacteria from today have never faced those molecules so they may give us a better opportunity at targeting the pathogens that are problematic today,” de la Fuente told CNN.
More ambitiously, biotechnology and genetic engineering startup Colossal Biosciences announced this year its plan to revive the dodo — a flightless bird that has been extinct since the 17th century — and reintroduce it to its natural habitat on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
“Our reasoning is that if the amoeba viruses are still alive, there is no reason why the other viruses will not be still alive, and capable of infecting their own hosts.”
Other “resurrection biologists” are studying the ancient specimens as a potential source for antibiotics to fight pathogens that have become increasingly resistant to overused conventional treatments.
César de la Fuente, Presidential Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and his team of researchers are analyzing genetic information from Neanderthals and extinct animal species to find small protein or peptide molecules they believe to have bacteria-fighting powers.
“Bacteria from today have never faced those molecules so they may give us a better opportunity at targeting the pathogens that are problematic today,” de la Fuente told CNN.
More ambitiously, biotechnology and genetic engineering startup Colossal Biosciences announced this year its plan to revive the dodo — a flightless bird that has been extinct since the 17th century — and reintroduce it to its natural habitat on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
Scientists have located viruses tens of thousands of years old in the Siberian permafrost.
AFP via Getty Images
The company is also using groundbreaking DNA sequencing, gene-editing technology and synthetic biology to try to bring back the ice age giant woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger, which went extinct from Australia in the last century.
In their efforts to resurrect the dodo, geneticists discovered cells that act as progenitors for reproductive organs — known as primordial germ cells, or PGCs — of the Nicobar pigeon, the dodo’s closest living relative, that can grow successfully in a chicken embryo, according to CNN.
Scientists will compare the genomes of the dodo and the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire, a close relative to the dodo, and see how they differ. They will then edit the PGCs of a Nicobar pigeon to give it the physical characteristics of a dodo.
The cells will then be inserted into the embryos of a chicken and rooster, who will theoretically have offspring resembling the dodo.
“Physically, the restored dodo will be indiscernible from what we know of the dodo’s appearance,” Matt James, chief animal officer of Colossal Biosciences, told CNN last month.
If successful, the offspring will not be a true dodo — but rather a hybrid impression of the bird.
“Because of the complexity of recreating a species from DNA, even if it was possible, [it] can only result in a dodo-esque creature,” said Julian Hume, an avian paleontologist and research associate at London’s Natural History Museum.
“It will then take years of selective breeding to enhance a small pigeon into a large flightless bird. Remember, nature took millions of years for this to happen with the dodo,” he told CNN.
The company is also using groundbreaking DNA sequencing, gene-editing technology and synthetic biology to try to bring back the ice age giant woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger, which went extinct from Australia in the last century.
In their efforts to resurrect the dodo, geneticists discovered cells that act as progenitors for reproductive organs — known as primordial germ cells, or PGCs — of the Nicobar pigeon, the dodo’s closest living relative, that can grow successfully in a chicken embryo, according to CNN.
Scientists will compare the genomes of the dodo and the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire, a close relative to the dodo, and see how they differ. They will then edit the PGCs of a Nicobar pigeon to give it the physical characteristics of a dodo.
The cells will then be inserted into the embryos of a chicken and rooster, who will theoretically have offspring resembling the dodo.
“Physically, the restored dodo will be indiscernible from what we know of the dodo’s appearance,” Matt James, chief animal officer of Colossal Biosciences, told CNN last month.
If successful, the offspring will not be a true dodo — but rather a hybrid impression of the bird.
“Because of the complexity of recreating a species from DNA, even if it was possible, [it] can only result in a dodo-esque creature,” said Julian Hume, an avian paleontologist and research associate at London’s Natural History Museum.
“It will then take years of selective breeding to enhance a small pigeon into a large flightless bird. Remember, nature took millions of years for this to happen with the dodo,” he told CNN.
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