Collaboration of Four Biotech Companies Showcases High Throughput DNA Assembly Platform for Diverse Applications
The costs associated with constructing the plasmids were reduced by nearly 10-fold and the turnaround time decreased by 25 percent.
Arzeda, the Protein Design Company™, Twist Bioscience Corporation
(Nasdaq: TWST), TeselaGen Biotechnology Inc. and Labcyte Inc. have
partnered to showcase a state-of-the-art DNA assembly platform, inviting
fellow researchers to learn from their experience. The companies plan to
host an event at Arzeda's headquarters in Seattle on Thursday, May 30th
where they will demonstrate several tangible examples of how the
integrated platform accelerated development of various products
including a food and beverage sweetener as well as a key component in
the next generation of plexiglass.
The event,
which is open to the public, will feature talks from leaders of each
company as well as several demonstrations by Arzeda team members, aimed
at educating attendees on how the platform transformed Arzeda's DNA
construction. The platform can be adapted to other research environments
and in turn can be a powerful tool for others in the industry to
increase throughput and manufacturing speed while reducing production
costs.
Arzeda will showcase several pilot examples of the platform including
the following: Arzeda's DNA assembly platform was used to construct 822
plasmids encoding novel enzymes that were computationally designed to
produce a new-to-market acrylate that could be used in the next
generation of plexiglass and other industrial materials. The costs
associated with constructing the plasmids were reduced by nearly 10-fold
and the turnaround time decreased by 25 percent. Subsequent platform
improvements have continued to reduce costs and turnaround times for
other ongoing projects.
“Our Genetic Design-Build team at Arzeda established a high-throughput
DNA assembly platform which integrates Arzeda’s genetic design
software Scribe™, Twist’s high-quality DNA gene fragments, Labcyte’s
Echo® acoustic liquid handler and TeselaGen’s automated DNA assembly
design software and LIMS – in just six months,” said Alexandre
Zanghellini, Ph.D., CEO of Arzeda. “We have identified exceptional
partners in Twist, TeselaGen and Labcyte that allow us to demonstrate
that Arzeda’s protein design platform, beginning with our core
technology of computational protein design and integrating downstream
with high-throughput DNA construction and protein
analytics, is much greater than the sum of its individual parts.”
The integrated platform supports the high-throughput testing of Arzeda’s
computationally designed proteins and enzymes. After the proteins are
designed, Arzeda proprietary genetic design software Scribe™
automatically encodes them into DNA. The resulting DNA sequences are
then imported into TeselaGen’s Synthetic Evolution™ DESIGN software to
automate the DNA assembly design process and determine the exact DNA
fragments to be synthesized. TeselaGen’s software will soon be
integrated with Twist’s API ordering system for seamless DNA ordering at
scale. After the DNA is made by Twist and received, TeselaGen’s BUILD
application automatically generates worklist instructions for the Echo
Liquid Handler to perform the DNA assembly at miniaturized reaction
volumes, reducing the use of expensive reagents.
“We are building a system that allows you to go from mind to molecule
very easily -- we help our clients move an idea for a bio-based product
out of their heads and into their hands quickly and efficiently,” said
Mike Fero, Ph.D., founder and CEO of TeselaGen. “There are a number of
attributes in our system -- automated protocol generation, interfaces to
robots, automated data acquisition rather than by-hand data input, and
continuously updated machine learning models -- that improve the process
and optimize the end product.”
"This collaboration of four leading companies in synthetic biology is a
perfect example of how Twist works in service of our customers,
providing large amounts of DNA rapidly to remove the bottleneck of DNA
synthesis to accelerate research and production," said Emily M.
Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and cofounder of Twist Bioscience. "We appreciate
playing an integral role in a collaborative platform - both of physical
component parts for high-throughput DNA assembly and complementary
organizations - working together to advance the field of synthetic
biology, from industrial chemicals to healthcare to biomaterials."
“Collaborating with industry partners to bring innovative capabilities
to our customers is an important focus for us,” said Randy Dyer,
director of product marketing for Labcyte. “By enabling high-speed,
low-cost plasmid construction with the Echo Liquid Handler, synthetic
biology researchers can accelerate laboratory workflows and produce
high-quality DNA assemblies at the same time."
About Labcyte
Labcyte, now a part of Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, is revolutionizing
liquid handling. Echo® Liquid Handlers use sound to precisely transfer
liquids without contact, eliminating the use of pipettes. Labcyte
instruments are used worldwide throughout the pharmaceutical and
biotechnology industries, as well as by hospitals, service laboratories,
contract research organizations, and academic institutions. Our
customers work across a wide spectrum of scientific research, including
drug discovery, genomics, proteomics, diagnostics and personalized
medicine. Labcyte has 63 U.S. patents and others internationally. For
more information, visit www.labcyte.com
or www.beckman.com.
About TeselaGen
TeselaGen is building a deep learning-powered solution for rapid,
precise and accurate DNA making and modification. TeselaGen's
cloud-based enterprise platform bridges the gap between good ideas and
the realization of valuable products like vaccines, biologic medicines,
and sustainably sourced chemicals. Positioned at the intersection of
design and biology, TeselaGen is applying forward engineering approaches
to design, build and test in the biological realm. TeselaGen is
privately held and is based in the software hub of San Francisco, CA.
Follow TeselaGen on Twitter, and learn more at teselagen.com.
About Twist Bioscience Corporation
Twist Bioscience is a leading and rapidly growing synthetic biology
company that has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform to
industrialize the engineering of biology. The core of the platform is a
proprietary technology that pioneers a new method of manufacturing
synthetic DNA by “writing” DNA on a silicon chip. Twist is leveraging
its unique technology to manufacture a broad range of synthetic
DNA-based products, including synthetic genes, tools for next-generation
sequencing (NGS) preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery
and development. Twist is also pursuing longer-term opportunities in
digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery. Twist makes
products for use across many industries including healthcare, industrial
chemicals, agriculture and academic research.
Follow us on Twitter
| Facebook
| LinkedIn
| YouTube
About Arzeda
Since 2008 Arzeda, The Protein Design Company™, has harnessed the power
of computational protein design to build novel enzymes and discover new
pathways that enable cost effective, sustainable production of
value-added specialty chemicals and ingredients. In partnership with
Fortune 500 companies and industrial leaders, the company has developed
a portfolio of proteins that increase the efficiency, robustness and
diversity of biological processes. Our proprietary pathway design
software unlocks new opportunities for specialty chemicals, advanced
materials and health and nutrition products that would otherwise be
impossible to exploit. More information is available at www.arzeda.com.
Arzeda is on Twitter. Sign up to follow our Twitter feed @ArzedaCo at https://twitter.com/ArzedaCo.
Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements
other than statements of historical facts contained herein are
forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and
expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but
not limited to, the potential promise of Twist Bioscience’s
manufacturing synthetic DNA at increased scale and complexity. Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and other important factors that may cause Twist
Bioscience’s actual results, performance, or achievements to be
materially different from any future results, performance, or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the risks and
uncertainties of the ability to attract new customers and retain and
grow sales from existing customers; risks and uncertainties of rapidly
changing technologies and extensive competition in synthetic biology
could make the products Twist Bioscience is developing obsolete or
non-competitive; uncertainties of the retention of a significant
customer; risks of third party claims alleging infringement of patents
and proprietary rights or seeking to invalidate Twist Bioscience’s
patents or proprietary rights; and the risk that Twist Bioscience’s
proprietary rights may be insufficient to protect its technologies. For
a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking
statements, as well as risks relating to Twist Bioscience’s business in
general, see Twist Bioscience’s risk factors set forth in Twist
Bioscience’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on December 20, 2018 and Twist Bioscience’s Form
10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on February 11, 2019. Any forward-looking
statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date
hereof, and Twist Bioscience specifically disclaims any obligation to
update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190523005222/en/