Technology investors bet on synthetic biology

Venture capitalists in Silicon Valley have been hesitant about synthetic biology for a while, but now their investment in engineering cell projects is on the rise In 2012, Emily leproust was still trying to raise money for the establishment of twist Bioscience, which aims to synthesize DNA in a faster and cheaper way than that approved at that time But at that time, many investors were scared away by the concept of synthetic biology This concept is: a kind of microbial engineering, which can prepare useful products, such as drugs, food ingredients and various raw materials People don't think this mystery will turn into profit In retrospect, leproust thought it was really a lonely day circumstances change with the passage of time Three years later, Silicon Valley tycoons - technology investors with billions of dollars in disposal rights - will eventually compete for a niche in biology This is due to the high cost and risk of developing drugs by traditional biotechnology in the past period of time, which makes investors start to stay away from them and be attracted by the synthetic biology they see - huge market potential, sharp decline in operating costs, improvement of business model, and gradual focus on data processing Nan Li, head of objective ventures investment in San Francisco, California, said the tools on which synthetic biology relies have changed hands since two years ago and are now moving into digital and automation For this reason, Li put forward a word "Biological Sciences" to describe the current situation of synthetic biology He said they found that synthetic biology looked more like a data or software problem, not only understandable, but also exciting First, software tools and robotics reduce the cost of all processing parts, including adding genetic "programs" to embed certain microorganisms and conduct laboratory tests For example, zymergen, a synthetic biology startup based in Emeryville, California, uses machine learning to guide fungal and bacterial engineering for more efficient industrial processing In addition, the company's laboratories also rely on robot automation technology to reduce the need for manual payment According to John Chambers, founder of synbio beta industry group (see table "funds invested in the microbial industry"), zymergen and twist bioscience are world-class synthetic biology companies Their fundraising reached a new high of 560.7 million US dollars this year Among them, 227 million US dollars is used to popularize CRISPR / cas9 gene coding technology in a large scale Overall, 24 newly established synthetic biology companies have raised funds in 2015, compared with less than six in 2012 At present, most of the work of developing a synthetic biological product is transferred to computers and robots This means that with the development of the Department, every dollar invested can produce more benefits In response, Matt ocko, a co manager of the data collection fund and one of the investors, who is due to attend and speak at the synbio beta industry conference in San Francisco on November 4-6, said that this has reduced costs for speculative capitalists who have invested in capital It is worth noting that the new generation of synthetic biology companies also have the advantage of experience Today, the founders of many companies are hard-working company members, because they focus on the huge and highly controlled industry, the barriers are as difficult to break as pharmaceuticals or fuels By contrast, these start-ups focus on areas of opportunity to help them bring their products to market quickly For example, specialty chemicals, food, cosmetics and clothing industries At the same time, they expect more new opportunities to achieve other and larger goals Industrial microbes is committed to changing the genetic structure of yeast so that it can use methane as raw material to synthesize chemicals Derek Greenfield, its co-founder, says people have come up with more clever ways to generate revenue faster For example, bolt threads, a company in amoryville, makes fabrics by changing the cellular metabolic pathway of yeast to simulate spider silk spinning In addition, the company is committed to using microorganisms to prepare cheaper, qualified or higher quality rubber, egg protein, rhinoceros horn, vanilla seasoning and rose extract or coffee For example, the use of genetically modified microorganisms to ferment coffee can replace coffee beans derived from civet droppings, thus avoiding the preparation of high-end drinks under certain conditions considered inhuman Jason Kelly, co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks, a microbial engineering company in Boston, Massachusetts, said that in the long run, synthetic biology students are willing to be able to make more meaningful and profitable performance than social media sites or cloud storage services It's like Tesla, an electric car maker, or SpaceX, an aerospace business that can transform innovative economic sectors - and even create new industries Li agreed He believed that with further understanding of biology and microbial limitations, it is likely to create new product types And many of the limitations they think can be fully extended and promoted After all, there are many ways to achieve the goal Original search: Erika check Hayden (2015) tech investors bet on synthetic biology Nature, 527, 19 Wen Jia / compiler [relevant conference recommendations] 2015 bio Based Materials Conference 12.17-18 Shanghai Since the 12th Five Year Plan, the bio based material industry has developed rapidly However, the opportunities and challenges faced by the industrial development environment, how can domestic enterprises find a new breakthrough? How to further deepen the integration of production, learning and research with the development of business model of bio based products and the construction of industrial clusters? The qualitative and quantitative standards, terminology standards and safety standards of bio based materials and products need to be formulated urgently To speed up the realization of economic and environmental protection double benefits and other issues have attracted more and more attention This 2015 conference will invite people from government agencies, scientific research institutions, leading enterprises and industries to come together to discuss solutions!