Ginkgo Bioworks Raises $100 Million To Use Synthetic Biology To Design Microbes For Industry

Ginkgo Bioworks, a Boston-based startup that says it is the biggest consumer of synthetic DNA on the planet, just nabbed a big payday. The plan: custom-design living cells for companies in the fragrance, flavor and food industries.

 Ginkgo announced this morning that it has raised $100 million from investors including including Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, Senator Investment Group, Cascade Investment, Baillie Gifford, Viking Global Investors and Allen & Company LLC. It also says it is buying a huge amount of DNA–600 million base pairs–from the two major manufacturers of synthetic DNA sequence: Gen9 and Twist Bioscience. That’s about 600,000 genes worth of material, and 60% of the total amount of synthetic DNA sold in 2015. The price of this raw genetic material has been dropping precipitously, making it more possible to engineer microbes like bacteria and yeast.

 There's a more detailed post on Forbes that you can read here

Ginkgo was founded in 2008, the brainchild of a group of MIT Ph.D.’s and their mentor, Tom Knight.  For years they worked carefully, using robotics and other techniques to make creating designer organisms more like manufacturing and less like making a bespoke suit. In 2014, Ginkgo became a Y Combinator company and started a streak of fundraising that, including today’s round, has brought the company $154 million. 

Why Genetic Information Should be a Trade Secret

This has been a hot topic thats doing rounds. Why should genetic information be a trade secret?

National health systems and insurers, regulators, researchers, providers and patients all have a strong interest in ensuring broad access to information about the clinical significance of variants discovered through genetic testing.

The whole question of proprietary claims over genetic information is not limited to patents and is very much open to debate.  In essence, the authors say that the Myriad patent saga serves as an excellent case study of the importance of collecting clinical data and the implications of keeping those data private. Myriad’s imminent entry into Europe presents an opportunity to implement policies on access to data on the mutation of the BRCA gene which leads to breast cancer. Such policies would set a salutary precedent not only for BRCA but for genetic testing in general, including whole-genome analysis. Mutations on single point mutations on active stretches of the gene are clearly deleterious because they disrupt protein function. Data on these mutations are valuable to those tested and to their health providers, influencing decisions about treatment options. But other data is being withheld, report the authors, which could be essential for further research in the analysis and treatment of cancer caused by single point variations. These are  ‘variants of unknown significance’ (VUS). They occur between the active and inactive segments of the gene and are therefore particularly difficult to interpret. The paper reports that Myriad claims that the fraction of cases resulting in a VUS is 3% in its hands, and 20% for most EuropeanBRCA-testing services.

You can read the entire article here:

http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2012/12/03/should-genetic-information-be-a-trade-secret/

 

"Gene-Brick{tm}" from GenScript is a Premier Gene Synthesis Service

Taken from PR.com - this had to be posted for our Gene synthesis readers!

GenScript USA Inc., an internationally recognized biology contract research organization (CRO) recently launched Gene-BrickTM, a premier gene synthesis service.

The Gene-BrickTM premier gene synthesis service is specifically designed to meet demands of large DNA fragments which are used in synthetic biology research, such as the building of large genetic circuits and synthetic chromosomes.

Gene-BrickTM services will synthesize ~10 Kb long DNA fragments as the fundamental building block of a synthetic genome. GenScript will deliver the 8-13 Kb full-length, synthetic DNA fragments with 100% guaranteed sequence accuracy. Being the first and the only commercial service provider of Gene-Brick synthesis, GenScript will make genome synthesis easier, faster, and less risk.

GenScript USA, Inc., is a leading biology CRO focusing on early drug discovery and development services. Built on assembly-line mode, one-stop solution, continuous improvement, and stringent IP protection, GenScript provides a comprehensive portfolio of services that include Bio-Reagent, Bio-Assay, Lead Optimization, and Antibody Drug Development which can be effectively integrated into value chain and operations. GenScript is the largest gene synthesis provider in the U.S. Their customers include top pharmaceutical companies, major biotech firms and research institutions in over 70 countries.

You can contact them at:

www.genscript.com

 

Is It Anthrax or Just White Powder?

A good article about A microfluidic chip that rapidly identifies pathogens by scanning their genomes.

From the article :

When a patient is admitted to the hospital with signs of a dangerous systemic bacterial infection, or when a post-office worker finds white powder in a suspicious-looking envelope, the ability to quickly identify potential pathogens is important. To accomplish that, a team of Massachusetts researchers is developing a microfluidic chip that performs fast DNA sequencing to rapidly identify bacteria. The goal is a device simple enough to use in airport and other security screening.

In order to identify the bacteria in a blood sample or in a building's ventilation system, researchers or clinicians usually must start by coaxing it to grow in culture in the lab. This takes about 14 to 48 hours. In the meantime, a patient with a drug-resistant infection may be given the wrong antibiotic, or emergency medical workers may miss the signs of a potential bioterror attack.

Click here to read the full story

The Biggest DNA Ever Made

Again I stress that this is old news...but here's the thing.. I was looking around the other day for the longest DNA ever made (synthetic ofcourse) and look what i found on forbes.com

there are some links here which will take u to forbes.com
We've already mentioned about Codon Devices earlier..click here to read it..

Matthew Herper, 07.13.06, 6:00 AM ET

A tiny startup says it has created a stretch of DNA more than 35,000 letters long.

The company, Codon Devices of Cambridge, Mass., believes it is the longest piece of DNA ever ever commercially shipped--but that's only the latest step in a race to create bigger and bigger pieces of genetic material.

Codon is aiming to become the leading player in a new field called "synthetic biology," creating tools by which cells and their genetic material can be more precisely engineered in order to create new medicines and industry. In this case, the DNA was constructed for Microbia, another Cambridge biotech that is developing drugs and creating microbes that can be used in manufacturing chemicals.

The creation of ever-longer stretches of man-made DNA is allowing researchers to make new strides in understanding how multiple genes work together.

"This is basically the next step in synthetic biology," says Brian Baynes, Codon's chief scientific officer. "People have been doing a lot of work with synthetic genes for a number of years, but they've been stuck with one gene."

On a piece of DNA as long as the one made for Microbia, ten or more genes may be present. By studying more than one gene at once, researchers hope to get a better picture of how they work in concert to produce an organism. Another advantage: These stretches can also be made to contain all the DNA letters that occur between genes. Scientists once thought of that stuff as junk, but many now believe it may regulate how the genes work or provide some other function.

Scientists playing in the synthetic-biology toolbox have also managed to make living cells do things nature never designed. One setup created blinking lights; another made photographic film composed of living bacteria in a Petri dish.

Codon was founded a year ago on the idea that scientists would need a company that could sell tools used in creating such custom-designed biological systems (see: " Photoshop For DNA").

Other companies are also in the business of making DNA for drug companies and other research organizations, which save time by using newer DNA synthesis methods instead of laboriously copying cells and inserting or deleting bits of genetic material.

Blue Heron Biotechnology, a company that is in the sole business of synthesizing DNA, says it made a piece of DNA that was 27,000 letters long while working with academic researchers. But the company says it sees itself as more of a supplier to synthetic biologists than as a player in the field. "I am optimistic that in a few years things like synthetic biology will be half or more of our market," says Chief Executive John Mulligan. "We're a pure DNA foundry."

Codon says that within a year or two it hopes to create DNA fragments that are as much as 100,000 letters long, and that eventually they might make 1-million-letter fragments.

"Codon's charge from the beginning has been to industrialize this space and create something well beyond synthetic biology that we call constructive biology," says Chief Executive John Danner. He says that by December of this year he hopes to have more DNA production capacity than all his competitors currently have combined.

Awesome stuff considering its just a start up...while we look out even more, stay tuned because, this blog is soon gonna be the definative Gene Synthesis Blog

Invitrogen and Blue Heron Biotechnology Enter into Strategic Development and Distribution Relationship

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2006--Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq:IVGN), a global leader in life sciences, today announced they have entered into a strategic development and distribution relationship with Blue Heron Biotechnology. Invitrogen will invest in Blue Heron in exchange for worldwide rights to distribute Blue Heron's custom gene synthesis services. Under the terms of the agreement, Invitrogen will become the exclusive worldwide distributor of Blue Heron's synthetic genes. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Blue Heron Biotechnology's proprietary GeneMaker(R) platform can synthesize any gene sequence, with perfect accuracy regardless of length or complexity, which makes it ideal for the synthetic biology market. Researchers worldwide are increasingly turning to synthetic genes as a convenient, cost-effective alternative for traditional cloning. Accurate and rapid synthesis of synthetic genes has allowed pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to speed the drug discovery process through an ability to rapidly and accurately synthesize known genes, and produce from them novel proteins, new vaccines and diagnostics.

"Invitrogen recognizes the tremendous new possibilities that gene synthesis offers life science researchers," said Nathan Wood, Vice President of Cloning and Protein Expression. "We have developed a broad array of products that complement Blue Heron's GeneMaker(R) platform and this agreement continues to enhance our portfolio offerings to our customers."

Invitrogen is a leading provider of recombinant cloning and protein expression products, as well as the premier provider of the largest fully sequenced human open reading frame clone collections. Gene synthesis builds upon this strength and will be especially useful in emerging fields such as synthetic biology.

"Partnering with a life sciences leader such as Invitrogen is an important milestone in Blue Heron Bio's continued growth and signals an important milestone for the overall gene synthesis market as well. We are very pleased to be able to make our gene synthesis services available through Invitrogen's unmatched distribution and marketing channels," said John Fess, CEO of Blue Heron Biotechnology.

As part of the agreement, the companies will co-develop new products and services for the research and bio-pharmaceutical markets.

Gene Synthesis Gets Cheaper - 2

Well in our previous article we just saw how Gene Synthesis got cheaper...

just to round up on that a bit, i was eagerly looking at some ads that would show companies lookin at this technology.. for one we know that, world wide, Codon Devices gives 1bp at $0.79 !! that is like really low and based on what I've read about Codon Devices, they're pretty good.. also now we have a new contender for their title.. GenScript now is in with $0.75 per base pair!! Hey i'm not tryin to promote any brand here and I don't certainly make the news.. i just see em..

Looks like we have a price war starting..stay tuned for more!