News, trends, and stories from the synthetic biology industry
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2020 revealed just how underprepared the world was for a global health crisis. But it also confirmed that if the biopharma community works together, life-saving solutions to our world’s biggest health challenges can be developed in record time. Discover how the lessons of 2020 are generating new therapeutic solutions, collaborative networks, and industry partnerships for 2021 and beyond. Register now for the SynBioBeta Biopharma Conference, May 26, 2021. Get on the list to receive conference updates, and for a chance to give input on what you want to see at the conference.
Sri Kosaraju, the new CEO of Inscripta, a company that developed a Digital Genome Engineering technology to manage, engineer and track individual cells.
Johnny Ohlson, CEO of Touchlight Genetics, who will be talking about their latest funding round of £42 million. Recent advances in pure, synthetic DNA from Touchlight in the United Kingdom could be the type of disruptive technology that manufacturers need to scale.
Ted Nordhaus is a leading global thinker on energy, environment, climate, human development, and politics. He is the founder and executive director of the Breakthrough Institute and a co-author of An Ecomodernist Manifesto.
Jack Bobo is a food futurist. He has spoken at many engagements surrounding food and agriculture, and their impact on humanity. As a thought leader, he aims to bring awareness to the future of food.
Jack Bobo
I want to congratulate my good friend and colleague Alex Murer from Kilobaser who is going to be speaking at Y Combinator demo day coming up on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021. I've known Alex for a number of years and visited his lab in Austria and I'm proud to say Kilobaser is the latest sponsor of SynBioBeta.
They introduced the world's first personal DNA synthesizer last year, and have now launched a new DNA probe cartridge for their device which allows any biologist to make DNA probes labeled with fluorophores such as FAM and quencher right in their lab in less than 2 hours.
The DNA synthesizer Kilobaser is the first of its kind, based on novel microfluidic chip technology thus allowing it to use up to 100x less reagents compared to old column based systems. The device is fueled by just a single reagent cartridge, making it a plug & play solution for any biologist.
SynBioBeta: In-Depth Meet the Heroes You Never Knew You Had
Three Underappreciated Female Pioneers of Synthetic Biology:In honor of International Women’s Day, here are three overlooked scientists whose research provided key insights into the quirks of genetics, the uses of proteins, and the value of computation in molecular biology. Their work was controversial and undervalued when it was first published, but now it’s clear that these women blazed trails for modern synthetic
biology.
My Latest For Forbes
Meet The UK’s First Synthetic Biology Unicorn Touchlight just announced a funding round of £42 million ($60 million) led by Bridford Investments Limited. The company plans to triple its manufacturing space and increase its production of DNA up to 1 kilogram per month by the first quarter of 2022.
In Case You Missed It
CRISPR Clinical Trials: A 2021 Update: 2020 was a big year for CRISPR – the discoveries of new Cas proteins, use of CRISPR technology to study and develop diagnostic tests of COVID-19, a Nobel Prize, and more. The past year has also brought results from clinical trials using CRISPR technology and the start of new clinical trials. In this article, IGI will go over the basics of clinical trials and then map out the current CRISPR-based trials from disease background to what we really hope to learn from these trials.
How Will the Proteins of the Future Be Designed? One of synthetic biology’s biggest challenges is mastering the art of protein folding and design. Although bioengineering techniques have advanced significantly, synthetic biologists cannot perfectly design a protein’s sequence or shape purely through computer modeling. So what does the future of protein design look like, and how will it change what we can build with biology?
Funding news
DARPA has recently established the Nucleic acids On-demand Worldwide (NOW) program to develop a mobile MCM manufacturing platform to rapidly produce, formulate, and package hundreds of doses of nucleic acid therapeutics in days – rather than months or years. They just announced an award of $9.35 million to DNA Script and $6.5 million to Molecular Assemblies. We're going to be having a Clubhouse session on it soon, so if you are interested in DNA data storage, stay tuned.
