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From 2012e.igem.org

Success Stories

Despite the challenges and obstacles in the synthetic biology industry, there have been successful startups with distinct business strategies.

Amyris Biotechnologies^[1]

Amyris Biotechnologies develops renewable fuels to reduce GHG emissions by 80%. They also develop semi-synthetic artemisinin, a key ingredient in malaria treatments, and reduce the need for the current seasonal supply. Amyris utilizes an industrial synthetic biology platform, composed of strain engineering, process development and scale-up, and chemical finishing. Thousands of yeast strains are created to select those that are the most efficient. The yeast that converts sugar into target molecules such as farnesene is subjected to conditions that stimulate a commercial production environment. If required, the molecule is converted by hydrogenation and polymerization.

Gingko Bioworks^[2]

Gingko Bioworks sell engineered organisms involved in electrofuels and pharmaceuticals. Gingko Bioworks use CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) to produce organisms specifically for the project. This frees up engineers to focus on the creative aspects of engineering while quality and batch creation is completely automated. The laboratory utilizes robotic automation to significantly reduce error rates and increases turn-around time for building and testing new organisms. Genetic parts and host strains are reusable from past projects to ensure synthetic biology components will operate predictably.