Biotech Company Hatches Chicks in Artificial Eggshell

A biotech company said Tuesday it has hatched 26 live chicks from a 3D-printed lattice structure designed to mimic an eggshell. The company, which focuses on efforts to bring back extinct species, placed fertilized chicken eggs into the artificial system inside an incubator. Scientists added calcium normally absorbed from a real eggshell and tracked embryo growth in real time.

The lattice includes a membrane that allows the correct amount of oxygen to reach the embryo, matching a natural eggshell. Other natural egg components, such as temporary organs that nourish the chick and remove waste, were not part of the system. Independent scientists said the setup functions as an artificial eggshell rather than a full artificial egg because the remaining parts of the egg were added separately.

The company’s chief executive said the technology could eventually help create genetically modified birds resembling New Zealand’s extinct South Island giant moa.

“We wanted to build something that nature has done a pretty good job of developing and make it better and scalable and even more efficient.”

Evolutionary biologists noted that even if the company produces a bird resembling a moa, the result would be a genetically modified living species rather than a true revival of the extinct animal.

Researchers said additional work is needed, including comparing ancient moa DNA with genomes of living birds and building a much larger eggshell. Bioethicists raised questions about how any recreated animal would survive in a modern environment that differs greatly from its original habitat.

Other scientists said efforts focused on preserving currently endangered species may offer more practical benefits than attempts to bring back species already gone.