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Machine learning and automation are all the buzz this week, with Elemental Machines and Eden Bio raising money for their platforms and Telesis Bio reporting record third quarter revenue. Read on to find out how a CRISPR cancer trial is paving the way to personalized treatments and why we are not prepared for the next wave of biotech innovation.

Cell Based Ag News

• Uma Valeti, CEO of UPSIDE Foods, announced that they've received a "No Questions" letter from the FDA accepting their conclusion that their cultivated chicken is safe to eat. This means UPSIDE is one step closer to being on tables everywhere. I ate Upside’s chicken earlier in the year and it was delicious. This is a huge, historic win that is an important step on the regulatory path.

Funding News

• Elemental Machines raises $41 million in Series B to fuel growth: With their LabOps Intelligence Platform, which is like a Nest device for your lab, Elemental Machines aims to transform operational environments by connecting physical assets to the cloud and freeing up teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Sridhar Iyengar, CEO & Founder of Elemental Machines, at SynBioBeta

• Software company Cradle has just announced a €5.5 million ($5.4m) seed funding round led by Index Ventures, Kindred Capital VC, and angel investors including John Zimmer and Emily Leproust. They are coming out with a generative platform that can help biologists engineer better proteins. I spoke with Cradle's CEO Stef van Grieken this week to understand what makes their technology revolutionary for the field of protein engineering and the implications it can have on synthetic biology.

Cradle’s co-founder and CEO Stef van Grieken.

• Eden Bio raises £1m seed round to advance their machine-learning platform: Using artificial intelligence to genetically optimize microbial strains, Eden Bio improves the yield of protein products such as industrial enzymes, therapeutics, vegan foods, and custom proteins or media components.
• Jacob Glanville announced that Centivax has raised a $10 million seed funding round co-led by NFX and Global Health Investment Corporation. Centivax’s mission is to develop "universal" vaccines against the flu, Covid and other fast-mutating diseases that provide broad, enduring and "future-proof" protection against viral mutations.

• Scorpion Capital, a short-seller, attacked Twist, causing a drop in their stock. It's the same tabloid-style short-seller that previously attacked Ginkgo Bioworks and Berkeley Lights. You can read Twist's response here.

Sustainability News

• Ginkgo Bioworks announces an R&D partnership with Berkeley-based Lygos to optimize production of biobased specialty chemicals that go into biodegradable formulations and polymer-based products.

• Hartland’s carbon-negative plastic additives can help remove CO2: A life cycle assessment showed that the company’s high-performance industrial hemp fiber product, Imperium Filler, removes 3 kilos of CO2 per 1 kilo of filler, and can help large manufacturers reduce the carbon footprint of everyday products.

SynBioBeta 2023 speakers:

Hear what our speakers have to say at SynBioBeta 2023. Get the inside scoop on where the biggest opportunities are – get your ticket TODAY!

• Dr. Amy Trejo, Director of R&D in Responsible Materials Innovation at Procter & Gamble, manages the multi-national company’s sustainability programs

• Yves Falanga, Entrepreneur-In-Residence at EcoR1 Capital, is responsible for driving efforts in venture creation and analysis of biotechnology companies for value-oriented investment opportunities.

• Dr. Ali Nouri leads the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs as an Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy.

• Frank Jaksch, CEO of Ayana Bio, brings more than 25 years’ experience developing consumer products in the life science, food, beverage, and dietary supplement spaces.

Also - if you’re in the Bay Area and looking to lease a SynBio or Footech space, then contact my buddy Matt Elmquist on +1 510.851.2004, more details here.

Health news

• High throughput screening for designing novel CAR-T cell therapies: With large scale screening and automation, Ginkgo Bioworks created a tool they believe can dramatically expand the variety and functionality of CAR domains so that their partners can build therapies targeted for particular tumor environments.
• PACT Pharma's CRISPR cancer trial success paves the way for personalized treatments: A small clinical trial has shown that researchers can use CRISPR gene editing to alter immune cells so that they will recognize mutated proteins specific to a person’s tumors.

New products

• New England Biolabs releases "Induro™ Reverse Transcriptase" — offering a novel approach to cDNA synthesis. New enzyme delivers new performance standard for cDNA synthesis reactions to help overcome barriers in RNA-sequencing workflows.

Innovation news

• Here’s why we’re not prepared for the next wave of biotech innovation: "Looking at the current crop of biotechnologies, from AI to gene editing to blood tests that can detect cancer, I feel like I’m once again in the shadow of that imitation Stonehenge. The view is beautiful. But I worry we’re about to topple into the ocean," Matthew Herper shares his thoughts on the danger of new technologies outpacing our ability to assess them.
• Engaging with new developments in U.S. bioeconomy policy: Stanford Bio.Polis is developing resources to help stakeholders understand what the CHIPS and Science Act and the Executive Order on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing require, on what timescales, who is involved, and where there may be opportunities for engagement. 

Regards,
John

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John Cumbers
Founder, SynBioBeta

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