Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Synthetic Genomics

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Area served
  
Worldwide

Founder
  
Craig Venter

Location
  
La Jolla, CA

Website
  
SyntheticGenomics.com

Founded
  
2005

Type of business
  
Privately held company

Synthetic Genomics httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb6

Products
  
Instruments Reagents Bioinformatics Tools (Full list of products)

Services
  
Cell engineering DNA sequencing Plasmid preparation Custom Synthesis (Full list of services)

Board of directors
  
J. Craig Venter Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay Alfonso Romo Barry Schuler Steve Jurvetson Martine Rothblatt Oliver Fetzer, Ph.D, MBA David Kiernan, M.D., J.D Juan Enriquez

Headquarters
  
La Jolla, California, United States

Subsidiaries
  
SGI-DNA; Synthetic Genomics Vaccines (SGVI); Genovia Bio

Key people
  
Craig Venter, Hamilton O. Smith, Clyde A. Hutchison III

Profiles

Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI), is a private company located in La Jolla, California that is focused on the field of synthetic biology. SGI designs and builds biological systems to address global sustainability problems.

Contents

Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering, combining fields such as biotechnology, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, systems biology, biophysics, computer engineering, and genetic engineering. Synthetic Genomics uses techniques such as software engineering, bioprocessing, bioinformatics, biodiscovery, analytical chemistry, fermentation, cell optimization, and DNA synthesis to design and build biological systems. The company produces or performs research in the fields of sustainable bio-fuels, insect resistant crops, transplantable organs, targeted medicines, DNA synthesis instruments as well as a number of biological reagents.

Gibson assembly hifi 1 step kit by sgi dna a synthetic genomics inc company


Core markets

SGI mainly operates in three end markets: research, bioproduction and applied products. The research segment focuses on genomics solutions for academic and commercial research organizations. The commercial products and services include instrumentation, reagents, DNA synthesis services, and bioinformatics services and software. In 2015, the company launched the BioXP 3200 system, a fully automated benchtop instrument that produces DNA fragments from many different sources for genomic data.

The company's efforts in bio-based production are intended to improve both existing production hosts and develop entirely new synthetic production hosts with the goal of more efficient routes to bioproducts.

SGI has a number of commercial as well as research and development stage programs across a variety of industries. Some of these research research partnerships include:

History

Synthetic Genomics was founded in the spring of 2005 by J. Craig Venter, Nobel Laureate Hamilton O. Smith, Juan Enriquez, and David Kiernan. J.Craig Venter (and Smith)'s previous company, Celera Genomics, was a driving force in the race to sequence the human genome. The firm takes its name from the phrase synthetic genomics which is a scientific discipline of synthetic biology related to the generation of organisms artificially using genetic material.

Many of SGI's collaborations have been with energy companies. In 2007, SGI worked with BP to commercialize microbial-based processes for increasing the conversion and recovery of subsurface hydrocarbons. In 2009, SGI received funding from ExxonMobil to produce biofuels on an industrial-scale using recombinant algae and other microorganisms. The company purchased an 81 acre site in Southern California's Imperial valley to produce algae fuel for their collaboration with Exxon Mobil. They also signed a collaborative agreement with New England Biolabs to Launch Gibson Assembly Master Mix Product for Synthetic and Molecular Biology Applications in 2012.

In 2010, Synthetic Genomics spun off a new subsidiary, Synthetic Genomics Vaccines Inc., to develop next generation vaccines

In 2014 SGI expanded into the field of organ transplantation with a collaborative agreement with United Therapeutics valued at $50M and brought in Oliver Fetzer as CEO.

Products

Commercialized products sold by Synthetic Genomics are sold through its subsidiary company SGI-DNA. Many of these products utilize the Gibson assembly method which was created by Dan Gibson (currently the Vice President of DNA Technology at SGI) in collaboration with the J. Craig Venter Institute in 2009.

Reagents

  • The Gibson Assembly HiFi 1 Step Kit
  • The Gibson Assembly Ultra Kit
  • Gibson Assembly Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit
  • Gibson Assembly Vectors
  • Instruments

  • BioXp 3200 System
  • Software

  • Archetype software
  • References

    Synthetic Genomics Wikipedia