Hi ,

Our ability to read, write, and edit DNA is what makes synthetic biology possible. As our understanding of DNA rapidly evolves and the science behind DNA synthesis improves, we're gaining a better understanding of how to utilize and implement technologies like CRISPR, cell-free manufacturing, protein design, and DNA data storage, What started as a dream of engineering has now enabled us to cure diseases, produce sustainable chemicals, store data in molecules, and create highly-valuable proteins not found in nature. What will we create next through the power of DNA?

This newsletter is brought to you by Inscripta, a life science technology company committed to creating a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable world through biomanufacturing. A global leader in genome engineering, their innovations are designed to unlock the full potential of the bioeconomy.

We have put together a list of everything you need to know about reading, writing & editing DNA, and the major developments in the last year. Join the discussion at SynBioBeta 2023: The Global Synthetic Biology Conference May 23 - 25, and the track dedicated to this topic.

• The Era of Fast, Cheap Genome Sequencing Is Here: Illumina says its NovaSeq X machine will get the price of sequencing down to $200 per human genome.

Francis deSouza, Illumina’s CEO, says the more powerful model will be able to sequence 20,000 genomes per year; its current machines can do about 7,500. He will be giving a keynote speech at SynBioBeta 2023.

• Ten years of CRISPR: June marked ten years since CRISPR-Cas9 was repurposed as a gene editing system. From gene drives to screens, and diagnostics to therapeutics, CRISPR nucleic acids and the Cas enzymes with which they’re frequently paired have revolutionized how scientists tinker with DNA and RNA.
• Todd R. Nelson, Dan Gibson and the whole Telesis Bio team announced the commercial release of the BioXp™ 9600 system – a fully automated, high-throughput benchtop platform for synthetic biology workflows designed to empower scientists to accelerate discovery of new vaccines and biologics. They will be speaking more about it at SynBioBeta 2023 on May 24 at 2:45 PM.

Dan Gibson, CTO of Telesis Bio.

• CATALOG achieves historic DNA computing milestone: CATALOG’s innovative approach shows, for the first time, how to leverage the massive parallelism of DNA chemistry to search almost any amount of data stored in DNA without the expected proportional increase in resources.
• New funding led by Moderna, Bayer, brings Metagenomi's Series B to $275M: "This additional capital gives us visibility on initial clinical milestones as well as an expanded pipeline of in vivo gene editing applications," said Brian C. Thomas, CEO and Founder of Metagenomi, who will be speaking at SynBioBeta 2023.
• 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.
• Synthetic Biology Startup Molecular Assemblies Ships First DNA From New San Diego Facility: The company’s Fully Enzymatic Synthesis™ (FES™) platform uses water-soluble, non-toxic reagents and requires minimal post-synthesis purification and processing. What that means for customers is that they no longer need to choose between fast turnaround times, oligo length, or purity.

Molecular Assemblies ships out DNA orders to its first customers.

• Sherlock Biosciences nabs Sense Biodetection to expand CRISPR diagnostic reach. Sherlock adds Sense’s instrument-free molecular diagnostics platform to complement its CRISPR-based screening technology with the goal of providing simple tests for a variety of conditions that can be completed virtually anywhere.
• Twist Bioscience begins shipping commercial product from synthetic DNA manufacturing factory of the future. The Factory of the Future is a 110,000 square-foot facility in Wilsonville, Oregon. With its assembly-line style manufacturing approach, the sizable facility is expected to double Twist’s manufacturing capacity.

• DNA Synthesis Goes Green: The purported benefits of enzymatic synthesis include the ability to avoid the use of harsh chemical substances (which often results in toxic waste)

DNA enzymatic synthesis represents an enormously valuable next step in harnessing the power of DNA replication and our ability to use it for developing cutting-edge, biotechnology solutions. Image: Canva/Science Photo Library.

• Evonetix recently closed $24 million financing in an oversubscribed round led by Foresite Capital. The investment will fuel the development of Evonetix’s semiconductor technology which enables accurate synthesis of thousands of sequences on a single chip and assembly of gene-length DNA in days rather than weeks.
• Ansa Biotechnologies announces successful de novo synthesis of world’s longest oligonucleotide at 1005 bases. "Synthesis of a 1005mer represents a major milestone for the field and is beyond what many thought was possible," said CEO Daniel Lin-Arlow. Ansa plans to initiate an Early Access Program for clonal synthetic genes in April.

Reading, Writing & Editing DNA at SynBioBeta:

Here are some of the upcoming sessions:

Related Sponsors

We hope you enjoyed this Reading, Writing & Editing DNA wrap up newsletter and I hope that you’ll choose to join us in May at SynBioBeta 2023: The Global Synthetic Biology Conference.

Regards,
John

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John Cumbers
Founder, SynBioBeta

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