Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks, which is building a platform for cell programming and biosecurity, has launched Bioworks7, the latest expansion of its biological engineering foundry.
With this new space, Ginkgo’s increased capacity will serve partners in cell and gene therapy, biomanufacturing and general mammalian programming for therapeutic applications and new biopharmaceutical modalities.
Context
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.
Official comments
“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.”
Jason Kelly, Ginkgo’s CEO and co-founder, said: “As the synthetic biology ecosystem rapidly evolves and the urgent need for biopharma options increases against the backdrop of the pandemic, we’re energised to expand our foundry to bring new capabilities to service the biopharma industry.”
