The Synthetic Biology Startup Ecosystem in the US

David RejeskiGlobal FellowWilson Center

Washington, DC

1

The Platform Value Now project, funded by Finland’s Strategic Research Council, focuses on understanding fast emerging

platform ecosystems, their value creation dynamics and requirements of the

supportive institutional environment.

Type 2 innovation platform: “consists of technological building blocks that are used as a foundation on top of which a large number of innovators can develop complementary services or products.”

Synthetic Biology As An Innovation Platform

Synthetic biology is a maturing scientific discipline that combines science and engineering in order to design and build novel biological functions and systems. This includes the design and construction of new biological

parts, devices, and systems.

Growth of Synthetic Biology Firms in the US

Data: Synbio Beta

Eric Schmidt

Sam AltmanPeter Thiel Tim

O’ReillyBill Gates

IT Investors Turned Synthetic Biology Investors

3-4 years ago: $10 million investmentsGrew to: $30-40 millionApproaching: $80 million and above

“Synthetic-biology firms….have raised a record-breaking US $560.7 million this year. 24 newly created synthetic-

biology companies have raised funding in 2015, compared to fewer than 6 in 2012.” Nature, November 2015

1996 2006 2016

How Did This Happen?

Bottoms up (no national strategy)Self organizing, open system

Champions with a powerful vision (engineering biology)Trading zones/creating a common language

Education & workforce preparationCommunity/network building

20 years (no quick fix)Some luck

1996

Woods HoleMassachusettsAugust,1996

2006 2016

36 participants:DARPA

NSFHarvard

YaleMIT

U. ChicagoStanford

Whitehead

First Distribution of Standardized Biological Parts

1996 2006 2016

Biobricks

London Science Museum

Synthetic Biology Open Language

“Tired of Evolving? Make New Friends”

1996 2006 2016

Reshma ShettyNow PresidentGingoBioworks

Woods HoleMassachusettsAugust, 2003

1996 2006 2016

34 participants:DARPA

NSFHarvard

YaleMIT

PrincetonStanford

Johns HopkinsCalTech

DukeMichigan

KEY CONCEPTS

1.Standardization of components

2. Component abstraction

3. Decoupling of design and fabrication

International Genetically Engineered Machines

Competition 2004, National Science Foundation funds teams from 6 universities

“Our goal was to kickstart a billion dollar industry.” Randy Rettberg

> 24,000 parts

Teams add >1,000 new parts per year

5,000 students annually, 300 teams, 150 judges, over 40 countries from 6 continents

2015

1996 2006 2016

SB1.0 and Beyond

1996 2006 2016

“We needed to create a cultural frame to operate…that is was ok to practice research in this area.” Drew Endy, Stanford

"Two groups can agree on rules of exchange even if they ascribe utterly different significance to the objects being exchanged….In an even more

sophisticated way, cultures in interaction frequently establish contact languages, systems of discourse

that can vary from the most function-specific jargons, …..to full-fledged creoles"

Peter Galison,Harvard, Image and Logic

Synthetic Biology Became A Trading Zone

Semantic networkanalysis

Web of Science

Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center - SynBERC

1996 2006 2016

“Our research program is creating the enabling tools and technologies that will give rise to many bio-based applications in the coming years.”

- $37.4 million for 10 years- $100 -150,000 per year for bi-annual retreats

$45,000,000

$140,000,000

DARPAContract Research

National Science FoundationFundamental Research

Government Funding of Synthetic Biology Research

1996 2006 2016

The Network and Community Legacy

“You cannot create a technology alone. You need buy-in on the part of thousands of people and you need redundant academic programs and efforts in the industrial sector. The most important thing we did was community building; creating an excited group of students who understood the sector.” Tom Knight, MIT

The Idea Legacy: Design-Build-Test-Learn Cycle

DARPA

“These biofoundries operate at rates approximately 100X over the prior state of the art.” Biotechnology & Bioengineering, 2015

“The DBT cycle was transformational…it is driving the field.” Jack Newman

The Idea Legacy: Standardized Parts

http://igem.org/Registry

Educational Legacy

2016

Firms and Clusters

Bay Area Boston

ZymergenAmyris Bolt Threads

Pixar AnimationStudios

The more open a place is to new ideas and new people — in other words, the lower its entry barriers for human capital — the more talent it can capture.”

$

Time

StartupBarriers

(Money, Know-how)

Financing Ecosystems Lower Entry Barriers

Crowdfunded Capital

Crowdfunded Equity

Donor Driven

Incubator/Accelerator

CommunityLab

Community Bio Labs as Incubators

Will Canine takes a biology course at

GenSpace

Raises $1 million to

start

Novel Bio-ProductionRapid Design and

PrototypingCustom Organisms

Creating A New Bio-Production Ecosystem

Discovery Design-Build-Test Scale

DARPA

Increase the rateof discovery

Goal: Faster, cheaper, better DNA2 cents/base pair for DNA (3Xs cheaper)

“Biology becomes a computer science field”

2014: 5-7 times more experiments/person/day2016 goal: 15-20 times more experiments

Primary customers: academics and startups$25 million, two other rounds of funding

24hrs/7days

“We are a software company.”

Produce ‘drop-in’ biological-based production that others take

to scale and to market

“Any product, any organism”

- Software group- Factory operations- Development (science and business)

“We….would like to fulfill a promise of innovation in a space that hasn't seen

innovation at a regular clip,” CEO Dan Widmaier

The activity hub for the synthetic biology industry

Multiple entry points for engaging a growing global community (iGEM, SynbioBeta, SB meetings)

Disaggregation of business ecosystems provide new niches for value creation and startups

Educational materials/courses now exist to build and attract next generation workforce

Lower barriers to entry and new funding opportunities for start-ups

Opportunities

New skill ecosystems emerging at disciplinary intersections between biology, computation, and robotics

Rachel Haurwitz, President and CEO, Caribou Biosciences

Jason Kelly, Co-founder, Ginko Bioworks

Jack Newman, Co-founder, Zagaya, Chief Science Officer, Amyris

Emily Leproust, Chief Executive Officer, Twist Biosciences

Dan Widmaier, CEO and Co-founder, Bolt Threads

Patrick Westfall, Zymergen

Thanks to:

Jay Keasling, Professor or Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering, University of California/Berkeley

Drew Endy, Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Stanford University

Pamela Silver, Professor of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School

Kris Prather, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, MIT

Jim Haseloff, Head, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge

Adam Arkin, Professor of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley

Thanks to:

Partial listings

Thanks!

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