Hi ,

Bio + AI is heating up with two big fundraisers this week. Congrats to LabGenius, Nabla Bio and Circe!

The Lords Science & Technology Committee took evidence Tuesday, 21 May, for their inquiry into engineering biology, and our own Fiona Mischel, Director of International Outreach at SynBioBeta, testified as an expert witness! You can watch the session here.

This week’s digest is brought to you by Biolog, helping you biologize the future by understanding microbes. Biolog’s customers have over 5000 publications on microbial phenotypic characterization and polyphasic identification used for synthetic biology, bioprocessing, sustainable agriculture, and more. Tell us what microbial questions you have, and we’ll share how our customers addressed similar problems—from strain selection to genome-scale metabolic modeling and more.

Industry News:

• Nabla Bio Secures $26 Million Funding Boost to Drive Protein Design Innovations. Nabla Bio, known for its groundbreaking work in generative protein design, has unveiled the successful closure of a $26 million Series A financing round.

• AI-Powered Antibody Drug Discovery Gets Boost as LabGenius Raises £35M in Series B Funding. Backed by investors, including Merck’s M Ventures, LabGenius aims to accelerate its pipeline of multispecific antibodies with new funding.

James Field (LabGenius, left) and Oliver Hardick (M Ventures, right).

• The Startup That's Decarbonizing Industries and Transforming Waste Gas into Everyday Essentials. Wyss Institute-backed startup Circe raises $8 million to commercialize a bioproduction platform that promises carbon-negative manufacturing.

• Engineered Enzyme Produces Vanilla from Plant Waste. Tokyo University of Science researchers have developed an enzyme that converts plant waste into natural vanillin in one step, potentially revolutionizing the flavor industry.

• Interdisciplinary Innovation: Pioneering Study Propels Biomaterial Development Forward. Led by Pezhman Mohammadi, Senior Research Scientist at VTT, the study introduces an amalgamation of synthetic biology, advanced machine learning, and computational techniques, promising a swift revolution in material innovation.

• Spinning Sound: How Spider Silk Could Revolutionize Microphone Technology. Researchers uncover that spider silk’s unique ability to detect sound velocities could inspire next-generation microphone designs.

• Natural Nanocarriers Deliver Gene Therapy for Spinal Disc Recovery. Researchers have developed a gene therapy using nanocarriers to restore the structural integrity of degenerated spinal discs and alleviate pain without using opioids.

• First Human Mini-Brain with Functional Blood-Brain Barrier Unveiled. This groundbreaking development by Cincinnati Children's researchers could accelerate drug discovery and therapeutic interventions for various brain disorders.

• Gene Editing Breakthrough: Multiplex Genome Editing for Complex Diseases. The new MOBE technology enables precise genome editing, opening new possibilities for modeling and understanding complex diseases like heart disease and schizophrenia.

Watch the SynBioBeta 2024 recap. Interested in being part of the 2025 conference as a sponsor or exhibitor? Contact Anissa Cooke to learn about available opportunities and check out our 2025 prospectus.

Additional Industry News:

• AI x Biotech, Psychedelics, Mars, and more at SynBioBeta 2024: Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan bring you the latest innovations highlighted at SynBioBeta 2024, focusing on the exciting intersection of AI and biotechnology. (Grow Everything)

• Armed with $100m in funding, Dave Friedberg unveils ‘boosted breeding’ tech at Ohalo in ‘holy shit’ moment for crop breeders (AgFunder News)

• SynBioBeta 2024: From novel hosts to ‘tricking’ cells to be more productive… addressing the ‘scale-cost paradox’ in biomanufacturing. What will it take to make the economics of precision fermentation stack up for a wider range of bioproducts? (AgFunder News)

• 30 Under 30 Asia: The Founders Developing New Diagnosis Methods And Innovative Healthcare Devices: From diagnosing Parkinson’s to synthetic biology, this year’s Healthcare and Science listees are putting scientific research into practice. (Forbes)

• Fermbox Bio Introduces EN3ZYME: A Global Solution Transforming Agricultural Waste into Renewable Biofuels and Sustainable Synbio Products (Press release)

• Synthetic Biology Matures, Promising Affordable And Personalized Treatments: Advances in synthetic biology are moving biopharma closer to a world where treatments can be tailored while remaining cost-effective. (Citeline)

• ‘People don’t realize how much fashion needs new materials,’ but biomaterials investors can be hard to find, say experts (AgFunder News)

• ERS Genomics and IRBM Sign CRISPR/Cas9 License Agreement: The license agreement provides IRBM access to CRISPR gene editing technology to be applied across its drug discovery services offering (Press release)

• Syngulon and ULB announce the issuance by the USPTO of a first joint patent covering an antibiotic-free selection technology (Press release)

Regards,

John

Who's hiring?

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

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

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