Glowing rabbits? This Los Angeles startup wants to create more desirable pets with genetic engineering

“We are bringing life itself under human design,” posted Josie Zayner, co-founder of The Los Angeles Project (LAP), an Austin-based genetic engineering company. Cathy Tie, Zayner’s co-founder, is a former Thiel Fellow, part of the business program funded by billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel has strong ties to Silicon Valley and was one of Vice President J.D. Vance’s earliest political backers when he entered politics in 2021.

The company’s name is inspired by the Manhattan Project, according to Emily Mullin of Wired, who spoke with the startup’s leaders about their controversial objectives. Just two weeks ago, Zayner posted about The Los Angeles Project, or LAP as she calls it, writing that she has spent the past year “building something that shouldn’t exist.”

In the post made on ZinkedIn, Zayner explains that they plan to start small, with minor genetic edits, but that they have much loftier goals, such as creating a unicorn or dragon through the use of genetic engineering. These ambitious goals help attract investors as the startup builds its team and client base. Zayner has already confirmed that LAP has received funding from 1517 Fund, a venture capital firm that supports startups launched by former Thiel Fellowship winners.

So, what about these glowing rabits?

The Los Angeles Project’s website invites customers who are “interested in owning a GMO pet or animal,” and the company has already begun planning what some of these creatures might look like.

Enter glowing rabbits.

LAP hopes to sell genetically modified rabbits that produce a protein that enables them to glow in the dark. Zayner told Mullin that the team’s work over the past year, which was carried out in “stealth mode” allows them to alter the DNA of rabbit embryos to produce the protein, and that those embryos can then be implanted into female rabbits. By mid-March, LAP expects to announce whether they were able to transfer the genetically modified embryos into female rabbits.

Next, Zayner and Tie are interested in using gene editing technology to remove the gene in cats that causes their most common allergies. Mullen’s piece ends on an important note for those interested in how this emerging science should be regulated. In reality, there is not much regulation that applies, and there are serious ethical questions at stake that the government, by not creating rules, is leaving to the private sector.

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