Why Founders Should Pay Attention to De-Extinction, Artificial Wombs, and the Mitochondria. 

At SXSW, I walked into a keynote expecting wild science fiction. I left with a deeper understanding of how science fiction is fast becoming science fact — and why that matters for anyone building something new.

In a fireside chat between Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm and actor/producer Joe Manganiello, we were taken on a whirlwind tour of what’s possible when synthetic biology, gene editing, and AI converge.

But this session wasn’t just about resurrecting woolly mammoths. It was about challenging what we think we know — and staying open to a radically different future.

1. The Science of Possibility

Colossal isn’t playing around. They’re exploring the outer edge of epigenetics, using genome editing, gene sequencing, and artificial wombs — not just to test bringing aspects of a species, like the woolly mammoth, back from extinction but to build technologies that could help preserve vulnerable species today.

This isn’t just about novelty or shock value. It’s about using synthetic biology to correct biodiversity loss, understand disease resistance, and develop regenerative systems we haven't seen before.

It sounds like sci-fi. It’s not. This is happening now — in labs, test environments, and increasingly in public-private partnerships around the world.

2. The Mitochondria Holds More Than Energy

One concept that struck me deeply: the mitochondria — often reduced in textbooks to the “powerhouse of the cell” — may actually hold something far more complex.

Emerging research suggests that the mitochondria could carry intergenerational trauma — physiological imprints passed down through generations. This has huge implications not just for medicine but for how we understand inherited stress, emotional memory, and chronic illness.

And perhaps more importantly, there may be ways to repair or regulate this at the cellular level. 

This led me to ask: What if part of our healing, as founders and humans, needs to be biological as well as psychological? 

What if self-work also means cell-work?

3. The Ethics of Innovation

This session also came with a quiet warning. As genome tech, synthetic biology, and computing power converge, we’re entering territory that some are already comparing to the Manhattan Project — where the potential for harm scales just as fast as the potential for progress.

Who gets to decide what’s “good” science? Who controls the code? Who is protected, and who is exposed?

This isn’t a reason to fear the future — but it is a reason to stay conscious.
To think critically. To build with intention.
Because history has shown that technology without ethics becomes exploitation.

4. Prediction: A Cancer Vaccine in 15 Years

Colossal predicts that within the next 15 years, we’ll see a viable cancer vaccine — built from a deeper understanding of how genes express disease and how the immune system can be trained to respond before it’s too late.

Science is already exploring the interfaces between brain cells and computing — enabling new ways to study cognition, regenerate neural pathways, and even personalise mental health interventions.

Imagine the implications for neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or epilepsy.

Or for accelerated learning, memory enhancement, and trauma recovery.

We’re standing at the edge of what’s possible — and what’s permissible.

5. Organic Lighting. Artificial Wombs. A Redefined Human Future

Did you know we can build organic lighting now? I didn't.

We can use bioluminescent cells derived from nature, like jellyfish proteins or genetically modified plants and bacteria, to create light without electricity. It’s a stunning intersection of synthetic biology and environmental design, with potential applications in sustainable architecture, wearable tech, and even public health.

And in one of the most provocative takeaways from the session: it’s reportedly more straightforward to grow a human in an artificial womb than recreate a mammoth.

That statement reframed the conversation. We’re no longer debating if the technology is possible — we’re now deciding how, where, and for what purpose to deploy it.

As I walked out of the room, I committed to Stay Curious.

Not everything I heard in that session was immediately “applicable” to my day-to-day work as a founder, but that’s not the point.

Learning — especially at the edges of science, tech, and biology — keeps our minds agile.

It builds new neural pathways, forces new questions, and reminds us that the world is far more extraordinary than we often allow ourselves to imagine.

We can’t return to the version of ourselves we were before we learned these things. That’s the gift of curiosity.

Curiosity is a Founder's Superpower

As entrepreneurs, curiosity is what fuels us — the drive to ask “what if?”, to explore the edges, and to push past what's familiar. But creativity alone isn’t enough. We also need discipline. The willingness to put on the metaphorical white lab coat, test our ideas, document the results, and let the data — not just desire — guide our next move.

Innovation lives in that space between imagination and evidence.
It asks us to dream boldly and build responsibly.
To stay open, stay grounded, and never stop learning.

That’s the real frontier. And it’s one we get to walk every day.

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Keep Questioning. Keep Building.

At Funding4Growth, we believe the best founders are part visionary, part scientist. We’re here for the ones who explore boldly, build with intention, and test their way toward impact.

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Curiosity isn’t a detour. It’s the path.
Let’s keep walking it — together.