When TIME revealed its 2025 TIME100 Next list, one name stood out in the science and tech ranks: Ben Lamm. Already a headline-maker for his work in de-extinction through Colossal Biosciences, Lamm was recognized not just for a single scientific breakthrough, but for orchestrating a movement. That movement includes genetically engineered prototypes like woolly mice and dire wolf cubs—symbols of a future shaped not by loss, but by restoration.
But what the TIME profile, authored by geneticist and longtime collaborator George Church, hinted at—just barely—is that Lamm has also been discreetly building something else: Astromech, a stealth AI startup that has already raised $30 million in funding and may prove just as transformative.
Building Coalitions to Move Science Forward
Church’s tribute in TIME called out Lamm’s rare ability to bring together “unlikely coalitions”—a mix of conservationists, ethicists, Indigenous leaders, gene therapists, embryologists, and AI specialists. That same ability is at work inside Astromech, where current recruiting efforts (scroll down) seek expertise across gene regulation, sequence reconstruction, metabolic modeling, and protein folding.
The connective thread? Data. Specifically, the kind of genomic inference and ancestral modeling that powers both synthetic biology and de-extinction. Where Colossal turns ancient genomes into living prototypes, Astromech appears poised to turn artificial intelligence into a new kind of research engine.
The Vision Includes Philanthropy
Lamm’s impact isn’t confined to the lab or the cap table. He founded the Colossal Foundation to support ecological restoration and endangered species, including elephants, wolves, and rhinos. His leadership style—described by Church as balancing “respect and humor” in the face of skepticism—has helped attract not only funding but followership (as well as some critics.)
The blend of public fascination, scientific rigor, and philanthropic mission may be why Colossal’s story resonates far beyond the biotech press. It’s rare to see gene editing, climate mitigation, and speculative evolution wrapped into one brand.
Stealth Mode Strategy
Unlike Colossal, which thrives on visibility and media engagement, Astromech is staying in stealth. The website is sparse and stylized, with little more than a career board and cryptic design motifs. But the direction is clear: Astromech is building AI infrastructure for synthetic biology. It’s biotech R&D reimagined through a computational lens.
This model allows Lamm to develop AI tools insulated from hype cycles or pressure to prematurely commercialize. The overlap between Astromech’s job specs and Colossal’s technical needs—especially in modeling extinct and ancestral traits—suggests the ventures could one day converge, though at this time is pure speculation.
Balancing the Spotlight
Juggling two frontier-facing ventures isn’t simple. Colossal’s media-fueled momentum demands narrative control, scientific validation, and constant coordination with regulators and researchers. Astromech, by contrast, offers a sandbox for longer-term infrastructure development—free from public expectation.
But both are bound by the same long-game thesis: the future of biology will be computational.
What to Watch For Next
Lamm’s TIME100 Next nod underscores his growing influence across two of today’s most consequential sectors: biotechnology and AI. Whether through resurrecting extinct species or building tools to model life itself, his work suggests that imagination, when combined with systems thinking, is no longer a luxury—it’s a strategy.