Gene editing is the big thing at the moment, and it seems that hardly a week goes by without some sort of announcement relating to it – often referring to the current flavour of the month, CRISPR/Cas (we are of course not immune to this). This is, however, entirely justified – what other area of science can show such breathtaking possibilities and profit potential? Don’t agree? Might be worth coming along to listen to the upcoming session at SynBioBeta SF then!There are quite a few speakers in this session and time is short, so we’ll be relying on the expert moderation of Hemai Parthasarathy from Breakout Labs to keep everyone in line. As the scientific director of Breakout Labs and the Thiel Foundation (as well as a previous Nature editor), she’s well versed in scientific communication and evaluation – skills which will come in handy during the following talks…

Andrew May, Caribou Biosciences

Caribou Biosciences was co-founded by a number of scientists including Jennifer Doudna: one of the early pioneers of CRISPR/Cas9 research, and controls a number of patents covering key aspects of the CRISPR/Cas system. We’ve recently covered the company and their strategic alliance with DuPont, which covers both IP cross-licensing as well as research collaborations and a minority equity investment. This comes after previously announced collaborations with Novartis (the major pharmaceutical company) and Intellia Therapeutics (who develop CRISPR/Cas therapeutics), and provides Caribou with a strong position within the gene editing field. We’ll be hearing more about their technology from Andrew May, current CSO at Caribou and co-founder of Intellia. With a background including a PhD in Biophysics, numerous leadership roles in industry, and a pile of patents, it should make for a well-informed and interesting talk.

Leigh Brody, Desktop Genetics

Continuing with the CRISPR theme, we have Desktop Genetics, who develop software tools to allow the design of gene editing experiments in combination with bioinformatics algorithms. Their platform, DESKGEN, is highly focused on the design of CRISPR experiments, providing unmatched protocol and development support. The cloud-based system combines free personal accounts with paid enterprise versions, (a very common SaaS business model), and the company includes a number of gene editing firms such as Editas, Horizon Discovery, and enEvolv amongst their customers. We’ll be hearing more about their technology from Leigh Brody, the current Director of Genomic Services at Desktop Genetics.

Adam Clore, Integrated DNA Technologies

Integrated DNA Technologies primarily produce and sell oligonucleotides, short strands of DNA or RNA used in diagnostics, research, cloning, etc. Their automated systems allow for next-day delivery of synthesised oligonucleotides – a godsend for those of us who have been suddenly told to develop a new clone or six within the week. Beyond this they have expanded into synthetic biology applications, synthesising entire genes for clients. Adam Clore, PhD, will be representing Integrated DNA at the upcoming SynBioBeta conference. Having begun at the company as an Applications Specialist, he has since climbed the ranks to his current role as Manager of Synthetic Biology Design & Support, and so we’ll be quite interested to hear what he has to say.

Tommy Duncan, Touchlight Genetics

Touchlight Genetics are also in the field of DNA synthesis, although their group uses enzymatic processes rather than the usual chemical synthesis. Their system essentially creates very long DNA strands with multiple gene repeats by amplifying circular substrates, then amplifying and chopping these strands to provide huge numbers of gene copies. They are currently looking at using this technology for the production of DNA vaccines, essentially delivering the instructions to make a pathogen’s antigen rather than the antigen itself. Shedding more light on this process will be Tommy Duncan, former consultant and current Business Development Officer for the company.

Benjamin Griffin, Synthetic Genomics

Synthetic Genomics was part-founded by Craig Venter, and uses a number of technologies developed during the race to sequence the human genome, in particular the ability to synthesise and manipulate large DNA constructs. The company and its subsidiaries provide gene synthesis; develop therapeutic vaccines and bacteriophage; research algal biofuels; and provide automated synthetic biology software platforms. We’ll be hearing from Benjamin Griffin, who worked his way up through the company from Microbiologist to his current role as Senior Director in Microbial and Enzyme Engineering.

Jeffrey Hung, GenScript

GenScript provides a wide range of services targeted at basic life science research and drug discovery, including gene synthesis, peptide, protein, antibody and preclinical drug development service capabilities. A large company with a ridiculously large number of citations for their products, GenScript is one of the largest providers of gene synthesis products in the US – which thus makes them the established competition for several of our other speakers in this session. To learn a bit more about the company’s offerings we have Jeffrey Hung, Vice President of the company, who will be bringing his years of experience in life science marketing to the session.

Stephen Laderman, Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies is, well, Agilent Technologies – a major player in the laboratory services space, supplying instruments, services, and consumables – listed on the NYSE with a current market cap of 12.3 billion and booking around USD 4 billion in revenue in 2014. It would take another article or two to cover all the areas they are active in, so we’ll just mention that we’ll be hearing from Stephen Laderman, Director of the Molecular Tools Laboratory, at SynBioBeta SF. His role involves leading the development of novel measurement tools – which essentially involves combining work into protocols, reagents, and computational methods to generate new products. Complicated, yes, so it will definitely be interesting to hear what he has to say.

Jason Potter, Thermo Fisher Scientific

The other major player represented in this session is Thermo Fisher Scientific – who are also NYSE listed with a market cap of over 50 billion USD and revenues around 17 billion USD. Thermo Fisher covers a number of other well-known divisions including Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems, and thus their revenues come from a range of sources, including instrumentation sales, diagnostics, services, and laboratory consumables. Their representative for this session, Jason Potter, will be keeping us up to date on their options for CRISPR/Cas engineering of mammalian cells.

Sounds interesting? Then get to Session 6 of SynBioBeta, 3:00 pm – 4:25 pm: Gene Editing & Metabolic Engineering