In major breakthrough, 3D-printed artificial egg hatched to produce 26 chickens

Colossal Biosciences, a "de-extinction" startup that is trying to resurrect New Zealand's giant moa, successfully hatched 26 baby chickens using a first-of-its-kind, 3D-printed artificial egg. This is proof of concept for the company's ultimate goal of bringing back the long-extinct avian species. The artificial egg is made from a 3D-printed titanium latticework and a bioengineered, semipermeable silicone membrane. It mimics a natural eggshell by allowing carbon dioxide to escape and oxygen to enter. It boasts a 21 per cent transfer capacity for atmospheric oxygen, more than the oxygen intake of an organic chicken eggshell. However, there is one area where it falls short - supplying the natural source of calcium that growing birds pull from the inside of their own eggshells.

Ben Lamm, Colossal’s CEO and co-founder, told Gizmodo that they are providing it manually. "The only thing we are supplementing is calcium. The developing embryos cannot get calcium from, you know, 3D-printed titanium, apparently," he said. “You know, we already have 26 chickens,” Lamm said. “We don’t need more. We’re gonna let them live out their natural lives.” Colossal announced that this shell has been made with an eye on a seamless transition to mass production using low-cost injection-moulding techniques. The company further said that its "fully scalable and biologically accurate" egg was designed to "produce healthy animals that can thrive, not just hatch". They have tried to mirror the natural egg as much as possible. Colossal plans to scale the technology up and down, testing the artificial egg next on smaller pigeon eggs and larger emu eggs.

Other implications

Chief Biology Officer, epigeneticist Andrew Pask, said that the technology can help endangered bird species in cases where experts have been trying to increase reproduction among bird populations whose numbers are falling. While independent experts note the technology could heavily impact the commercial poultry industry, Colossal's CEO, Ben Lamm, states that the company has no plans to enter the agricultural market, choosing instead to focus entirely on its wildlife conservation and de-extinction experiments.