Hi ,

Well that was a big week in synthetic biology!  Thanks to all those who joined us in San Jose for our best event yet!  It was great to connect face to face with so many in our community.  A big thank you to the SynBioBeta team and all our speakers, sponsors and exhibitors.  If you couldn’t join us this year, then save the date for May 5-8th 2025 in San Jose.  We have a special two for one ticket offer on event passes through midnight Friday AND we’re holding expo and sponsorship prices until May 31st, so contact Anissa Cooke if you’d like to be a super early bird! 

The Beckman Coulter Life Sciences team at SynBioBeta in San Jose last week.

This week’s digest is brought to you by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, a Danaher company that focuses on healthcare through discovery, research, and more. They are dedicated to advancing and optimizing the laboratory and serving a spectrum of industries. Product areas include centrifugation, lab automation, liquid handling, particle counting and characterization, cell counting and analysis, flow cytometry, TOC analysis, and more.

Industry News:

• Elegen Reels in $35M to Turbocharge DNA Synthesis. With fresh capital infusion from investors, including Triatomic Capital and GSK, Elegen is set to accelerate the production of GMP-compliant DNA for clinical use.

• Insempra Secures $20 Million Investment to Pave the Way for Next-Gen Bio-Based Ingredients: This significant investment, following an initial $15 million seed round in 2021, marks a crucial step in accelerating Insempra's pioneering efforts to revolutionize the beauty and food industries with its market-first approach.

• Allozymes Raises $15 Million in Series A Funding, Poised to Revolutionize Industries with Enzymatic Solutions (Press release)

• Molecular Assemblies Launches Partner Program for Onsite Synthesis of Long, Pure, Accurate DNA (Press release)

• New Culture strikes strategic partnership with CJ CheilJedang to ‘unlock commodity pricing’ for dairy via precision fermentation (AgFunder)

• Hoxton Farms tackles fat, the final frontier for alt meat (AgFunder)

• Coffee with a kick… but no caffeine? Rarebird spills the beans on paraxanthine (AgFunder)

SynBioBeta Returns to San Jose May 5-8, 2025

Our exclusive SynBioBeta 2025 2-for-1 offer ends this Friday, May 17th, at midnight. When you purchase a full-price pass, not only will you receive a 50% discount, but you'll also get two conference passes for the price of one, allowing you to bring a friend or colleague for free.

Additional Industry News:

• How the White House just made the world a little safer from biorisks: New regulations are a win for safe synthetic DNA. (Vox)

• Novel Genetic Drivers of Aging and Blood Cancer Risk Discovered. Scientists have identified 17 new genes that drive the abnormal overgrowth of mutated blood cells, providing fresh insights into the genetic factors behind aging and blood cancer risks

• Tiny Brains, Big Breakthrough: ‘Mini-Brain' Innovation Could Revolutionize Alzheimer’s Treatment. A USask researcher’s innovative mini-brains, grown from blood-derived stem cells, could revolutionize how we diagnose and treat neurological diseases

• GenScript Biotech Corporation Announces Self-Amplifying RNA Synthesis Service for Advanced Therapeutic Applications (Press release)

• This Chip Seeks to Transform Drug Manufacturing by Learning More About Intracellular Dynamics. A new startup launched at the SynBioBeta conference called CybergenX is seeking to integrate AI-powered cybergenetic technology into the synthetic biology field. By doing this, CybergenX is seeking to accelerate the potential of engineering biology in drug manufacturing. (MedCity News)

• Ginkgo to cut spending, lay off staff after earnings disappointment. The company said it is planning to reduce operating expenses — including a 25% reduction in labor spending across both research and development (Endpoints News)

• GreenLab Partners with Ginkgo Bioworks to Scale Up Production of Brazzein, a Novel Sweetener (Press release)

• ERS Genomics Appoints John E Milad as Chief Executive Officer (Press release)

That’s all for now folks - I hope that all your DNA dreams come true.

Regards,

John

Who's hiring?

• Associate Professor – Synthetic Biology (Vashee Lab) at JCVI J. Craig Venter Institute (Rockville, MD)

• Manager, Sample Management at Caribou Biosciences (Berkeley, CA)

• Research Associate II, Downstream Processing at Antheia (Menlo Park, CA)

• Sr. Scientist I/II, Protein Testing / Assay Development at Arzeda (Seattle, WA)

• Sr. Scientist I/II, Analytical Development at Arzeda (Seattle, WA)

• Principal Scientist / Distinguished Scientist, Cell Biology (Cotton Fiber Development) at Galy (Boston, MA)

• Senior Bioprocess Engineer at Galy (Boston, MA)

• Key Account Manager (Westcoast) at Molecular Assemblies (San Diego, California)

• Key Account Manager (Northeast) at Molecular Assemblies (Remote)

• Engineering Biology Team Lead – Engineered Translation at Constructive Bio (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire)

• Technical Advisor, Protein Engineering at Kura Biotech (Remote)

• Senior Engineer at Next Rung Technology (NRT)  (Somerville, MA)

• Senior Principal Scientist, Synthetic Biology at dsm-firmenich (Delft, Netherlands)

• Director of Microbial Strain Engineering at Enduro Genetics (Copenhagen, Denmark)

• Director of Strain Development at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Downstream Processing Engineer at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Materials Quality Lead at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Polymer Chemist at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Principal Scientist, Strain Development at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Project Manager at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Research Associate, Strain Engineering at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Scientist, Fermentation at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Sr. Research Associate, Enzyme Development at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Strain Development Scientist at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Strain Engineering Scientist at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Technical Project Manager at ZymoChem (San Leandro, CA)

• Microbiology Scientist/Lab Manager at Arsenale BioYards (Veneto, Italy)

• Analytical Scientist/Lab Manager at Arsenale BioYards (Veneto, Italy)

• Post-Doctoral Research Associate (PDRA) in Responsible Research and Innovation (Future Biomanufacturing) at (University of Manchester, UK)

• Fermentation Scientist at Essential (Kenya)

• Engineering Lead (Bioreactor Development) at General Biological (GB) (New Haven, CT)

• Chemistry R&D Lead at General Biological (GB) (New Haven, CT)

• Strain Engineering Lead at General Biological (GB) (New Haven, CT)

• Senior Scientist, Machine Learning at A-Alpha Bio (Seattle, WA)

• Director, Applied Data Science at A-Alpha Bio (Seattle, WA)

• Project Scientist, Discovery at Arcadia Science (Berkeley, CA)

• Computational Evolutionary Biologist at Arcadia Science (Berkeley, CA)

• Scientist, Biochemist at Arcadia Science (Berkeley, CA)

• Open Science Editor, Publishing at Arcadia Science (Berkeley, CA)

• Scientist Entrepreneur, Startup Creation at Arcadia Science (Berkeley, CA)

• Senior Scientist - Plant Transformation at Green Bioactives (Edinburgh, UK)

• Project Management and Production Officer at Planetary (Zurich, Switzerland)

• Gordian Apprenticeship at Gordian Biotechnology (South San Francisco, CA)

• Head of Platform at Gordian Biotechnology (South San Francisco, CA)

• Molecular Biology Engineer at Lastix Bio (Paris, France)

• Analytical Chemistry Engineer at Lastix Bio (Paris, France)

• Computational Biology Scientist at Lastix Bio (Paris, France)

• Protein Engineering Scientist at Lastix Bio (Paris, France)

• Strain Engineering Scientist at Lastix Bio (Paris, France)

• R&D Director at Neoplants (Léonce Basset, Saint-Ouen, France)

• Research Associate II, Downstream Processing at Antheia (Menlo Park, CA)

• Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Cauldron (Australia)

• Senior Software Engineer, Full Stack at Matterworks (Somerville, MA)

• Senior Data Engineer, Full Stack at Matterworks (Somerville, MA)

• Senior Scientist/Scientist at Matterworks (Somerville, MA)

• Associate Director, RNA Purification & Characterization at Ginkgo Bioworks (MA, United States)

• Staff Process Engineer at Twist Bioscience (South San Francisco, CA)