Hi ,

This week’s digest is brought to you by Ribbon Biolabs, whose mission is to serve the growing need for synthetic DNA as a fundamental component of innovation in biotechnology and biopharma. Ribbon Biolabs provides its customers with rapid access to DNA molecules of sub-genomic size and in thousands of variants–empowering them to create visionary solutions and engineer novel products.

Webinars

If you missed our recent webinar discussing the current landscape of synthetic biology in China, you can now watch the on-demand version! To view the webinar, Click Here.

Insights (Exclusive Content):

• Building Microbiomes From Scratch. The development of synthetic microbiomes represents a significant leap forward in biotechnology, with potential applications ranging from infection prevention to cancer treatment.

Industry News:

• Prolific Machines Secures $55M Series B Funding to Transform Biomanufacturing with Light: Prolific Machines' platform leverages light, combined with bioengineering, hardware, and AI, to control cellular functions with unparalleled precision.

• Syntis Bio Launches with $15.5M to Tackle Obesity and Rare Metabolic Diseases. Syntis' lead program, SYNT-101, is a once-daily pill designed to mimic the effects of gastric bypass surgery by temporarily blocking nutrient absorption in the duodenum, the upper part of the small intestine.

• Prime Improvements: A New Era in Gene Therapy. David Liu's team at the Broad Institute has achieved a major milestone in gene editing, creating a system that could treat a wide range of genetic disorders by inserting healthy genes directly into their native locations.

• Nuclera Secures £1.14M in Innovate UK Grants to Enhance Protein Expression Technology: 790k FASST grant, in collaboration with DeepMirror, and £350k Engineering Biology grant awarded for platform development.

• Cancer Therapy Game Changer Could Lie in Bacteria-Based Chemo. A new study from NUS Medicine reveals a revolutionary approach to chemotherapy, significantly reducing side effects and improving drug efficacy.

• Green Chemistry Breakthrough: CO2 Transformed into Valuable Acids. Researchers at Tokyo Tech have developed a novel biocatalytic method to convert CO2 into valuable carboxylic acids using the Thermoplasma acidophilum malic enzyme.

Are you interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at the 2025 conference? Contact Anissa Cooke to learn about available opportunities, and check out our 2025 prospectus.

Additional Industry News:

• Meet Pioneer Labs, a startup engineering microbes for Mars: They are creating hardy critters that perform gracefully even in the extreme conditions of space. By doing so, they aim to make biomanufacturing ubiquitous, reliable, and green — on Earth and beyond.

• Research team uses CRISPR/Cas9 to alter photosynthesis for the first time. A team from the Innovative Genomics Institute at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) has produced an increase in gene expression in a food crop by changing its upstream regulatory DNA. (Phys.org)

• AI and genetic engineering advancements could make designing new proteins possible. Although the CRISPR-AI combination is still in its infancy, once it matures, it is likely to be highly beneficial and could even help the world tackle climate change. (Fast Company)

• IndieBio’s SF incubator lineup is making some wild biotech promises. IndieBio’s Bay Area incubator is about to debut its 15th cohort of biotech startups. Tech Crunch took special note of a few, which were making some major, bordering on ludicrous, claims that could pay off in a big way. (TechCrunch)

• AI plus gene editing promises to shift biotech into high gear. The goal is that with AI’s design talents and gene editing engineering abilities, scientists can modify bacteria to act as mini-factories, producing new proteins that can reduce greenhouse gases, digest plastics, or act as species-specific pesticides. (The Conversation)

• HealthTech Bioactives (HTBA) has chosen Abolis as its partner to develop strains to produce valuable polyphenols, address supply chain challenges, and drive innovation in the industry. (Press release)

Regards,

Jeff

Jeffrey Buguliskis

Director of Content, SynBioBeta

Who's hiring?

• Head of Informatics at Colorifix (Norwich or Cambridge)

• Group Leader, Metabolism at NewLimit (South San Francisco, CA)

• Head of Operations at NewLimit (South San Francisco, CA)

• Bioinformatics Scientist at Pioneer Labs (San Francisco, CA)
  

• Senior Microbiology Research Associate at Pioneer Labs (San Francisco, CA)