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At SynBioBeta, we strive to share not only the latest news but also inspiring stories, thought-provoking takes, and insights from the industry leaders with our digest readers. This week, we’d like to highlight a conversation between a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and a biotech investor, offer some food for thought about nourishing the world, and encourage you to rethink your morning cup of coffee. Enjoy!

I'm in Davos this week on a mission to biologize everything. I was moderating two sessions: Biologize Everything: The coming synthetic biology revolution with Sean O'Sullivan (SOSV), Gaurab Chakrabarti (Solugen), Rima Chakrabarti (KdT Ventures), and Ryan Morhard (Ginkgo Bioworks) and the session pictured below. This was a scoping mission to do something bigger next year, if you're interested in joining us then please drop me a note.

John Cumbers (SynBioBeta), Jennifer Wipf (Ginkgo Bioworks), Megan Palmer (Stanford), and Sean O'Sullivan (SOSV) at Davos.

• Can BiologIC’s Biocomputer Help Bring Biomanufacturing to Space? BiologIC Technologies, a company out of Cambridge, UK, wants to bring disruptive innovation to biomanufacturing with the world's first biocomputer. This paradigm-shifting technology could replace traditional labs and potentially even enable biomanufacturing in space.

BiologIC Technologies’ biocomputer.

• D.A. Wallach recently sat down with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Siddhartha Mukherjee to discuss his new book, The Song of The Cell. "It's a fantastic work, animating the history of life's ubiquitous basic unit, the cell, with vivid stories of the pioneers who drove its discovery and went on to invent modern medicine." 
• Your dinner table will be different in 2050. "It’s important to paint a vision of what’s possible for the future," says Christine Gould, Founder and CEO of Thought for Food. "My vision and what gets me out of bed every morning is thinking about our food system that is nutritious, delicious, and sustainable."

Christine Gould. Photo by Anvita Gupta/Fast Company Middle East.

• CRISPR QC closes seed round at $1.6M and appoints George Bonaros to Board of Directors to fuel commercial growth of their CRISPR analytics platform. The platform is built on CRISPR-Chip, which provides unique data insights to enhance the precision of genome engineering.
• Living Carbon, a climate biotech company developing plants that capture and store more carbon, has raised $21M in a Series A funding round.
• Introducing Rarebird: Coffee that support mental wellness. Jeffrey Dietrich, Founder of Rarebird (formerly Revel Technologies) is making coffee with the world's only caffeine replacement: a naturally occurring compound that increases alertness, just like caffeine, but without making you feel jittery and wired.
• Multus Biotechnology raises $9.5m Series A to build growth media production plant. Multus plans to build a new plant in the UK for affordable food-safe growth media production at commercial scale that it hopes will accelerate the cultivated meat industry towards price parity.

Multus Biotechnology team.

• BioMADE is now accepting submissions for projects that address research and development priorities that will have a direct impact on mitigating the causes and consequences of global climate change.
• Asimov, a synthetic biology company advancing the design and manufacture of therapeutics, announced a strategic partnership with Center for Breakthrough Medicines (CBM)

With 2023 officially here, we are starting the countdown to The Global Synthetic Biology Conference. Don’t forget to grab your tickets to SynBioBeta 2023! The deadline for the Digital Poster Session applications is Wednesday, February 1st, so please fill out our submission form. Don't miss your chance to showcase your innovative ideas!

SynBioBeta 2023 speakers:

• Michael A. Fisher, Senior Fellow at Federation of American Scientists, works on U.S. science and technology policy, focusing on the bioeconomy.

• Jocelynn Pearl is a co-founder of LabDAO and UltraRare Bio, and curates The DeSci Wiki. She is a biotech scientist, company builder, and podcaster.

• Pau Millet Lopez is the Founder and CEO of Mirag / Double Twist Architects.

• Christopher Hill is a co-founder of DeSci Labs. Chris is an interdisciplinary scientist who worked at the crossroads of neuroscience, economics, and machine learning. 

SynBioBeta 2023 Sponsors/Exhibitors/Partners:

• Molecular Devices is one of the world's leading providers of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems, software and consumables for life science research, pharmaceutical and biotherapeutic development.

• Securecell is developing innovative solutions in bioprocess technology for Biotech and BioPharma development digitalization and automation.

• Enzymit combines a state-of-the-art computational design platform augmented with deep-learning, bringing next-gen chemistry to modern industry.

Agriculture news

• Yield10 Bioscience and Mitsubishi Corporation sign MOU to evaluate the establishment of a partnership to supply, offtake and market camelina as a feedstock oil for biofuel.
• The future of food—CRISPR crops that capture carbon. Genetically engineered plants are sprouting up to restore the carbon cycle and prevent the further buildup of carbon dioxide.
• Calyxt and Cibus announce definitive merger agreement to create industry-leading precision gene editing and trait licensing company.
  

Other news

• NVIDIA, Evozyne create generative AI model for proteins: The novel approach can exponentially increase the number and quality of synthetic protein designs, which opens up the possibility to design new therapeutic targets for untreatable diseases and reduces development time for new treatments.
• Ginkgo Bioworks announces a partnership to produce multiple infant nutrition products with NAMUH, a collaboration to implement biosecurity capabilities in Ukraine, and a traveler-based genomic surveillance program to detect influenza variants.
• Ayana Bio pledges $3M to accelerate cacao bioactive production using cellular cultivation.
  
• Nucleate announces $2M in Venture Prizes for European Activator teams, in partnership with BlueYard Capital.
• To lead us into the future, U.S. biomanufacturing needs to expand: Biodesign company Geltor argues that governmental leadership can ensure the success of the U.S.-based bioeconomy.
• Scientists announce a new enzymatic capability for CRISPR systems, opening the possibility of using CRISPR in new applications beyond gene editing.
• The Andreessen Horowitz Bio + Health Fund, which has raised a combined $3.2 billion in four funds, invests in companies that apply engineering approaches to biology and healthcare.
• 5 biotech trends to watch in 2023: From synthetic biology to xenotransplantation, biotech will continue to march forward in 2023, in part powered by data and AI.

Regards,
John

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John Cumbers
Founder, SynBioBeta

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