Beth Shapiro named CSO of Colossal

Beth Shapiro will be taking a leave of absence from UC Santa Cruz to be Chief Scientific Officer of Colossal, a company that is working to bring ancient species back from extinction. In her new role, she will oversee the expansion of the Colossal’s conservation science and de-extinction teams.

Beth Shaprio and Ben Lamm from Colossal Biosciences stand in front of a large replica of a dodo bird.

Beth Shapiro is the Director of Conservation Genomics at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute and author of two books, including How to Clone a Mammoth on the science of de-extinction and Life as We Made It on how humans have shaped nature over the past 50,000 years and how we can “meddle better.” Her lab at UC Santa Cruz specializes in ancient DNA and has previously sequenced the dodo bird genome, one of the species Colossal is attempting to bring back from extinction. 

During Shaprio’s leave of absence, which began March 15, her Paleogenomics Lab at UC Santa Cruz will continue to be led by her co-PI, Ed Green.

Read more about what Shapiro will be doing at Colossal in BusinessWire

Last modified: Nov 04, 2024