Newest foundry increases capacity in biopharmaceuticals, biomanufacturing and general mammalian programming for therapeutic applications
BOSTON, Jan. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, today announced the opening of Bioworks7, the latest expansion of its biological engineering foundry. With this new space, Ginkgo increases its capacity and capabilities to serve its partners in the spaces of cell and gene therapy, biomanufacturing and general mammalian programming for therapeutic applications and new biopharmaceutical modalities.
Ginkgo’s foundry automates and scales the process of organism engineering, allowing engineers to prototype thousands of biological designs. This evolving platform equips companies and labs from startups to large pharmaceutical companies with access to robust technology, without the need to invest in costly lab and R&D infrastructure in-house and aims to drive down the cost per design.
“Following our initial efforts in Bioworks4 in 2019, and expansion to our Cambridge facility, Ginkgo has created a strong foundation for culturing, engineering, and interrogating a variety of primary cells and cell lines to support both discovery and manufacturing efforts for cell and gene therapy, RNA therapeutics, and biologics including antibody and enzyme-based therapies,” said Narendra Maheshri, Head of Mammalian Foundry at Ginkgo Bioworks. “With Bioworks7, Ginkgo is able to further scale this work with dedicated capabilities for stem cell engineering, centralized mammalian cell operations services and expanded capabilities in existing areas.”
Today’s launch will provide Ginkgo with the capacity to interface with more strategic partners to advance improved cells into therapeutics or biomanufacturing. In addition to the new foundry space, Ginkgo has also added expertise across its biopharma team, including the appointment of Dr. Behzad Mahdavi, senior vice president of biopharma manufacturing & life science tools. Ginkgo’s existing work in the biopharma space – such as partnerships with Aldevron, Biogen, Microba, Moderna, Novo Nordisk, Optimvia, Persephone, SaponiQx, Selecta Biosciences, Synlogic, Tantu, Totient, and Merck – span many therapeutic areas and approaches and contribute to the company’s growing expertise and Codebase. In addition, Ginkgo recently acquired Circularis, a biotechnology company with a proprietary circular RNA and promoter screening platform, to enable new solutions across bioproduction, RNA therapeutics, cell therapy, and gene therapy partnerships.
“Since the opening of Bioworks4 when we formally kicked off our work in the mammalian space, we’ve experienced significant growth, creating new opportunities for us to advance our capabilities and contribute to our valued pharma partners,” said Jason Kelly, Ginkgo’s CEO and co-founder. “As the synthetic biology ecosystem rapidly evolves and the urgent need for biopharma options increases against the backdrop of the pandemic, we’re energized to expand our foundry to bring new capabilities to service the biopharma industry. With today’s opening, we look forward to enabling our partners to program mammalian cells at scale for more effective biomanufacturing workflows and new and improved biopharma products.”
The Bioworks7 facility comprises 6,600 square feet of Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) lab space at Ginkgo’s headquarters in Boston’s Seaport District. It is co-located with Bioworks4, Ginkgo’s other mammalian foundry space, allowing for synergy with existing spaces within its headquarters. Notably, Bioworks7 houses a dedicated space for induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) work and advanced robotics to further scale and automate a variety of mammalian workflows. By investing in the expansion of its mammalian foundry platform, Ginkgo expects to provide significant runway to support new programs in the pharmaceutical and biotech vertical.
Bioworks7 and Ginkgo’s advancement in the biopharma industry comes on the heels of its announcement of its foundry-enabled methods for large-scale, pooled combinatorial library screening of CAR domains for improved persistence. As its platform evolves to spearhead monumental work in the biopharma space, Ginkgo is equipping companies with the tools they need to innovate and shape therapeutics.
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo’s biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure for biosecurity to empower governments, communities, and public health leaders to prevent, detect and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and concentricbyginkgo.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as Twitter (@Ginkgo and @ConcentricByGBW), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks and @ConcentricByGinkgo), or LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of Bioworks7 and Ginkgo’s cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “can,” “project,” “potential,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) volatility in the price of Ginkgo’s securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo’s business, (ii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, (iii) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (iv) the unpredictability of the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the demand for COVID-19 testing and the commercial viability of our COVID-19 testing business, (v) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, and (vi) our ability to realize the expected benefits of merger and acquisition transactions. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the “Risk Factors” section of Ginkgo’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on November 14, 2022 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
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