26 Chicks Hatched out of 3D Printed Eggs: Moving Toward Dodo and Moa De-Extinction

Can 3D printing bring extinct birds back from the dead? Colossal Biosciences is betting on it. Last week, the Dallas-based biotech firm announced it had successfully hatched 26 healthy chickens using highly complex artificial eggs: a critical proof-of-concept for their ultimate goal of resurrecting the Mauritius dodo and New Zealand’s South Island giant moa.

Engineering a synthetic egg is a notoriously difficult task, as the structure must allow oxygen to permeate it, with a barrier tough enough to seal out germs and retain moisture. Over email, Colossal Chief Biology Officer Andrew Pask shared that in some configurations, 3D prints of the rigid outer shell were done with the FormLabs Form 4 using BioMed black resin. These structures were primarily prototypes. Following prototype validation, iterations were made in titanium. The finished product features a dual-component design: a semi-permeable silicone membrane housed within a rigid hexagonal support cup.

The artificial egg has a rigid shell and a silicone membrane.

The membrane is engineered to replicate the gas-exchange function of a natural eggshell. According Pask, the membrane enables gas exchange at a rate comparable to a biological shell. There’s also a clear window at the top of the egg, which lets scientists observe embryo development directly. Plus, the design can be scaled up (or down) in size: it could be used to create eggs appropriate for hummingbirds, or the soccer-ball-sized eggs of the giant moa, which once stood nearly 12 feet tall.