Camena Bioscience has closed a $10m Series A financing round, which will be used to scale operations and continue development of DNA synthesis platform gSynth.
Synthetic genes are widely used by researchers to understand the mechanisms of disease, and in the drug discovery process to combat them. However, the cost, time and accuracy of traditional DNA synthesis methods developed in the 1980s remains problematic, particularly when creating long or complex sequences of genes.
Camena’s technology uses a wholly novel enzymatic technology to accurately produce synthetic DNA.
Camena’s CEO and co-founder is Steve Harvey, a leader in genomics research, and the CSO and co-founder is Derek Stemple, a molecular biologist and previously a co-founder of TwistDX which was acquired by Alere (now a part of Abbott) in 2010.
Steve Harvey commented: “We are delighted to have closed this latest round of funding with Mercia. The ability to read, write and manipulate DNA is the foundation of the synthetic biology value chain, yet developments in DNA synthesis have not kept pace with DNA sequencing and editing capabilities.
“The invention of next-generation DNA sequencing technologies transformed our ability to ‘read’ DNA. Our goal is to enable our customers to ‘write’ DNA with the same confidence and ease.”
