Scientist stole trade secrets from startup that wants to bring back extinct species: bombshell suit

NY Post ^ | 11/06/2026 | Taylor Herzlich

[DFG]

Colossal Biosciences – a futuristic startup working to bring back extinct species including the woolly mammoth – is suing one of its former scientists for allegedly stealing trade secrets and sharing the data with competing labs.

In a bombshell lawsuit filed Friday morning in Texas federal court in Austin, Colossal accused James Kehler, formerly its vice president of animal sciences and later of BioSynergy, of “dishonesty, greed, and the betrayal of the confidential science at the heart of Colossal’s mission.”

The Dallas-based firm – which has so far succeeded in creating “woolly mice” that bear woolly mammoth traits and gray wolves similar to the extinct dire wolf – claimed Kehler breached three of the contracts he signed with the company after he left for rival labs.

Forensic analysis of Kehler’s Colossal work laptop found that prior to leaving the company, he moved files containing confidential information to a personal cloud account and multiple personal devices, the suit alleged.

Colossal is being represented by Alex Spiro, the hard-charging attorney at New York law firm Quinn Emanuel, according to court documents.

Kehler did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

As a vice president at Colossal, Kehler – who lives in Maryland – had access to the company’s most sensitive scientific information, including data on its avian programs, like work on the dodo bird and the moa, a large, wingless bird formerly found in New Zealand, according to the lawsuit.

Around April 14, 2026, after resigning from Colossal, Kehler joined Neion Bio – a competing lab – as Head of Avian Sciences and “used and disclosed Colossal trade secret and confidential information,” the suit alleged.

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TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: biosynergy; colossalbiosciences; jameskehler; woollymice

[DFG]

[gundog]

He was trying to cure baldness....

[Resolute Conservative]

Dodgson! Dodgson! Nobody cares...

[z3n]

I didn’t click to read the extended article, but I wonder if this is one of those legal gray areas when it comes to intellectual property. If the scientist took materials from his employer, whether physical or digital, and shared that with competitors or a new employer, then that’s fairly cut-and-dried, if I understand the law.

However, if his former employer is trying to keep him from utilizing the knowledge and expertise that he gained on his old job, then then that should be difficult to enforce, unlike they had an enforceable NDA and non-complete contract.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

I'd like to see them bring back the Passenger Pigeon instead. And the Dodo bird too.
Maybe the Ivory Billed Woodpecker also. Give us the bird.

[BenLurkin]

Why not just sell the mice as status symbol pets?

[PGR88]

I saw a documentary about this, where people did this with dinosaurs on an island in Central America.

It didn’t end well for the people involved.

[ansel12]

Hegseth approached that lab to see if they could bring back tough drill sergeants.

[Honorary Serb]

Yup!