Brief Description
With synthetic DNA fueling innovation in biological research, therapeutics, diagnostics, and biomanufacturing, there is an urgent need for faster and more accurate DNA synthesis. Currently, DNA is manufactured via a chemical method that has remained essentially unchanged for 35 years and has approached a plateau. Ansa Biotechnologies is developing a faster, more accurate, and cleaner enzyme-based DNA synthesis technology. The technique promises to dramatically accelerate innovation in biological research and engineering.
The approach is based on polymerase-nucleotide conjugates that have the ability to extend a DNA molecule by one building block at a time. The technology was published in Nature Biotechnology as the first demonstration of an enzymatic DNA synthesis procedure. More information is available from a commentary article in Nature Biotechnology and news articles from Science Magazine, Cosmos Magazine, Genome Web, STAT News, Singularity Hub and Engadget. The invention was emphasized as one of the “5 coolest things on earth this week“ by GE.
The company was co-founded by inventors Daniel Lin-Arlow, who received his PhD from UC Berkeley for his work in the lab of Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and of Bioengineerin Jay Keasling, and Sebastian Palluk, who joined Lawrence Berkeley Lab's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) for his PhD. Lin-Arlow and Palluk teamed up at JBEI to develop the first demonstration of a practical enzymatic de novo DNA synthesis method.
Timeline
- 2018. Company founded
Inventors
Daniel Lin-Arlow, Sebastian Palluk