Twist Bioscience and iGEM Partner to Provide Synthetic DNA for iGEM Competition and Registry
SAN FRANCISCO & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 15, 2019--Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, and the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation today announced a collaboration to change the way iGEM Competition teams contribute to the Registry of Standard Biological Parts, a free online database for synthetic biologists.
A standard biological part is a functional unit of DNA that encodes for a specific biological function (such as a response to stimuli, or the synthesis of interesting proteins), and conforms to a construction standard. Parts from the Registry can be mixed and matched to build synthetic biology devices and systems. In past years, teams from around the world were required to submit physical samples of their standard biological parts to the Registry as a part of the competition. Now, through this collaboration between Twist and iGEM, competition teams no longer have to factor in the time, effort and resources needed to generate and ship their part samples to the Registry. Importantly, this process ensures the correct parts are delivered to the Registry, eliminating error or duplication.
Instead, by the end of the competition, teams will now submit their part sequences and documentation to the Registry. Twist Bioscience will then synthesize samples of these parts for next year’s competition. This represents a shift from a focus on DNA manipulation to a more impactful focus on design, measurement, and documentation of their biological constructs.
Randy Rettberg, President and founder of iGEM, explains, “We all know that in synthetic biology, DNA is more about the information than the physical molecule. In the future, synthetic biologists will specify the design and order the molecules online. This will be part of a multi-layered industry. This offer from Twist lets iGEM teams live in that future, today.”
“The iGEM Competition is the preeminent synthetic biology event of the year, engaging more than 40,000 students worldwide,” said Emily Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “These young minds hold the future solutions for addressing chronic and deadly diseases, providing solutions to improve the environment, and acting globally to benefit humanity. We are continuously inspired by the innovative projects that improve communities and ecosystems around the world, and are proud to support their efforts.”