Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Rosalind (Scale-up for Next Generation Enzymatic DNA Synthesis)

Teaser

Creating DNA is crucial for R&D in numerous fields of synthetic biology which tackle essential societal issues: climate change thanks to the production of bioproduced materials, healthcare with new biotherapies - especially against cancer, or food security using better strains...

Summary

Creating DNA is crucial for R&D in numerous fields of synthetic biology which tackle essential societal issues: climate change thanks to the production of bioproduced materials, healthcare with new biotherapies - especially against cancer, or food security using better strains of plants. Synthesis is also an essential step towards of DNA data storage. All these applications form the long-awaited synthetic biology revolution, and all rely on the capability to efficiently write life code to engineer biological systems. Current DNA synthesis methods are the major bottleneck.

The enzymatic process developed by DNA Script, inspired by Nature, aims at improving both speed and efficiency by orders of magnitude. Avoiding the use of toxic reagents, this process will also contribute to a lower environmental footprint for this industry, as well as for its downstream applications. DNA Script’s technological performances in the lab are 3 to 6 months away to overcome current offer.

Project Rosalind will accelerate industrial scale-up of DNA Script’s production capability and performances. By developing extensive knowledge in DNA applications and structuring the company’s strategic and commercialization capabilities, Project Rosalind will also help DNA Script go commercial. Enabling technologies such as DNA synthesis have tremendous impact on an ecosystem by accelerating R&D and industrialization cycles of its customer. The project will have a positive impact on the European biotech environment, and potentially trigger the emergence of European biotech leaders. Ultimately, through the numerous applications of synthetic DNA, it will benefit all European citizens.

Work performed

This first part of the project has enabled DNA Script to move forward towards industrialization of its DNA synthesis technology. The company\'s leadership in the field is now supported by a pre-industrial capacity that will continue to grow within the context of this project. Synthesis performances have been increased, thanks to extensive work on all aspects of the process - reagents, process, automation. The company is now able to work with external partners to confirm the quality of its output. These advances have been protected as part of the company\'s intellectual property strategy.

Final results

DNA Script has pushed the limits of enzymatic de novo synthesis of nucleic acids by synthezing the longest strands of DNA using this technology. During the first part of this project, DNA Script has made enzymatic synthesis able to compete with commercial synthesis technologies, based on phosphoramidite chemistry. Commited to developing a benchtop DNA printer, DNA Script will unlock the promise of biology by enabling the creativity of its researchers. Thanks to its central position of provider of an essential raw material in biology, DNA Script will become a new European champion in life science.

Using DNA Script\'s products, researchers will be able to iterate faster and imagine brand new experiments. They will be the driving force behind the synthetic biology revolution, which holds the promise of bringing solutions to mitigate climate change, improving food security or finding new therapies for diseases like cancer.

Website & more info

More info: http://dnascript.co/project-rosalind.