UAE and Colossal Biosciences Partner to Build Genetic Noah's Ark in Dubai

A Modern-Day Noah's Ark Takes Shape in Dubai

The United Arab Emirates and Colossal Biosciences have unveiled a sixty million dollar partnership to create the world's first BioVault, a cutting-edge genetic preservation facility that its creators are calling a modern-day Noah's Ark. The announcement was made at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on the third of February twenty twenty-six.

What the BioVault Will Do

The Colossal BioVault and World Preservation Lab will be permanently housed at Dubai's iconic Museum of the Future, with construction expected to wrap up by twenty twenty-seven. The facility is designed to preserve living cell lines, tissue samples, and genetic data from endangered species using advanced cryogenic storage technologies, automated robotics, and AI-powered monitoring systems.

The ambitious project aims to eventually store millions of samples representing more than ten thousand species, but will initially focus on the one hundred most endangered species that are not currently preserved elsewhere.

Who Is Behind It

Colossal Biosciences, co-founded in twenty twenty-one by entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard geneticist George Church, has rapidly become one of the most high-profile biotechnology companies in the world. The firm made global headlines in April twenty twenty-five when it announced the birth of three genetically engineered dire wolf puppies, marking what it described as the first documented de-extinction of a species. Colossal is also pursuing efforts to revive the woolly mammoth, dodo bird, and Tasmanian tiger.

The sixty million dollar UAE investment expands Colossal's Series C funding round, bringing the company's total capital raised to six hundred and fifteen million dollars.

Why It Matters

The project addresses what scientists describe as an urgent biodiversity crisis. Current projections suggest that nearly half of all species on Earth could face extinction by twenty fifty. Existing biobanking efforts are widely considered underfunded, fragmented, and inaccessible.

Unlike traditional research facilities, the Dubai BioVault will be open to the public, allowing visitors to watch scientists working in real time as they receive tissue samples, sequence DNA, and cryopreserve cell lines. The Museum of the Future installation is intended as the first of a global network of BioVaults, with Colossal actively recruiting other countries to participate.