section_path: Gene editing
section_name: Gene editing
paragraph_text: Gene editing
  
  In April 2015, Swedish scientists published the complete genome (nuclear DNA sequence) of the woolly mammoth. Several projects are working on gradually replacing the genes in elephant cells with mammoth genes. One such project is that of Harvard University geneticist George M. Church, who is funded by the Long Now Foundation, is attempting to create a mammoth–elephant hybrid using DNA from frozen mammoth carcasses. According to the researchers, a mammoth cannot be recreated, but they will try to eventually grow a hybrid elephant with some woolly mammoth traits in an artificial womb. In 2017, George Church said "Actually it would be more like an elephant with a number of mammoth traits. We're not there yet, but it could happen in a couple of years." The creature, sometimes referred as a "mammophant", would be partly elephant, but with features such as small ears, subcutaneous fat, long shaggy hair and cold-adapted blood. The Harvard University team is attempting to study the animals' characteristics in vitro by replacing or editing some specific mammoth genes into Asian elephant skin cells called fibroblasts that have the potential to become embryonic stem cells. By March 2015 and using the new CRISPR DNA editing technique, Church's team had some woolly mammoth genes edited into the genome of an Asian elephant; focusing on cold-resistance initially, the target genes are for the external ear size, subcutaneous fat, hemoglobin, and hair attributes. By February 2017, Church's team had made 45 substitutions to the elephant genome. So far, his work focuses solely on single cells. In 2021, Church received $15 million in funding and spun off a new company called Colossal Biosciences. In 2025, Colossal Biosciences showcased three mice with woolly mammoth-inspired traits, such as cold tolerance, woolly coats, golden-brown fur, and curly whiskers as a proof of concept to engineering the woolly mammoth's traits into the Asian elephant.
  
  The Mammoth Genome Project at Pennsylvania State University is also researching the modification of African elephant DNA to create a mammoth–elephant hybrid. If a viable hybrid embryo is obtained by gene editing procedures, implanting it into a female Asian elephant housed in a zoo may be possible, but with the current knowledge and technology, whether the hybrid embryo would be carried through the two-year gestation is unknown.