Koliber Bioscience Awarded BioXp™ 3200 System for Six Months for Winning SynBioBeta’s Blue Sky Bio Competition for Synthetic Biology Startups

LA JOLLA, CA – February 18, 2016 – SGI-DNA, a Synthetic Genomics, Inc., company, announced today that the world’s first DNA printer, the BioXp™ 3200 System, has been delivered to Koliber Biosciences, which is operating at north San Diego's life science incubator, Bio, Tech and Beyond. The BioXp™ System was awarded to Koliber Biosciences for six months for winning the Blue Sky Bio Competition during the November 2015 SynBioBeta conference in San Francisco.“SGI-DNA congratulates Koliber Biosciences for their innovation in the growing field of synthetic biology and for winning the Blue Sky Bio Competition,” said Nathan Wood, President of SGI-DNA. “The BioXp™ 3200 System was developed by SGI-DNA to drive innovation and accelerate the pace of genomics research, so supporting the novel ideas presented at SynBioBeta’s Blue Sky Bio Competition is a natural fit.”The BioXp™ Instrument supports the workflows outlined by Koliber Biosciences, enabling expedited results and immediate progression into the next phases of research projects. Importantly, other startup companies at Bio, Tech and Beyond will share access to the instrument, supporting the workflows of promising biotech entrepreneurs.Founder and CEO of Koliber Biosciences, Ewa Lis, Ph.D., accepted the BioXp™ System, eagerly stating “Koliber Biosciences will utilize the BioXp™ System to build the DNA tools necessary to enable tryptophan production for the treatment of depression. The capabilities of the technology will enable rapid optimization of the vector elements accelerating the research objectives as well as improving the understanding of these understudied organisms.”

Blue Sky Bio Competition winner, Ewa Lis, Ph.D., explains how Koliber Biosciences will use the prize to accelerate research objectives during the competition at SynBioBeta San Francisco 2015.Upon receiving the BioXp™ System, Bio, Tech and Beyond founder and CEO, Joseph Jackson, stated, "Bio, Tech and Beyond was founded on the premise that affordable access to the tools of 21st century biotechnology is the single most important enabler of innovation and economic prosperity today. Advances in genomics during the last 15 years have brought profound increases in our ability to read and write DNA at large scale. The BioXp™ Instrument is symbolic of these trends, and we are thrilled to be one of the first labs in the world to have access to such an instrument.”BioXp™ 3200 SystemThe BioXp™ genomic workstation generates high-quality, linear DNA fragments or clones from custom designed oligonucleotide pools and reagents virtually hands-free in an overnight run. The automation of traditionally labor- and time-intensive steps needed to obtain DNA fragments enables users to focus on new discoveries and downstream DNA analysis, rather than DNA clone production. Additionally, the BioXp™ System does not require a DNA template for building DNA, so users of the instrument are not limited by access to preexisting DNA sequences and/or fragments.About Koliber BiosciencesKoliber Biosciences is developing probiotic strains to tackle the problem of depression. The solution, proposed at the Blue Sky Bio competition, is to enable a probiotic strain to overproduce the serotonin precursor – tryptophan, directly in the gut. Tryptophan is already used as a supplement for depression, however to be effective it requires very large doses to be consumed multiple times a day. A convenient probiotic supplement would solve this problem and is more likely to be accepted by the large population of people that currently avoid traditional pharmaceutical treatments.About Bio, Tech and BeyondThe Carlsbad, California lab hosts more than 20 small startup companies who work in diverse areas ranging from cancer diagnostics and therapeutics to agriculture, biomarker discovery, genome editing, and metabolic engineering of industrial microbes. Bio, Tech and Beyond (BTnB) is situated in the San Diego region at a unique moment in history, positioned to leverage the unfolding biotech revolution. BTnB startups will make great use of the BioXp™ Instrument and the incubator also welcomes researchers in the greater San Diego biotech community to contact them about utilizing the instrument for their own R&D needs. BTnB can be reached at info@btandb.com or online at biotechnbeyond.com.About SGI-DNASGI-DNA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Synthetic Genomics, Inc. (SGI), is responsible for all commercial aspects of SGI’s synthetic DNA business and focuses on strategic business relationships with both academic and commercial entities. Building on the scientific advancements and breakthroughs from leading scientists such as J. Craig Venter, Hamilton Smith, Clyde Hutchison, Daniel Gibson and their teams, SGI-DNA utilizes unique and proprietary DNA technologies to develop new synthetic DNA products, tools and instruments. SGI-DNA also offers a comprehensive suite of genomic services, including whole genome sequencing, library design, bioinformatics, cell engineering, and plasmid DNA services.For more information about our latest advances and the award-winning BioXp™ 3200 Instrument, please visit sgidna.com/bioxp and follow us on Twitter @sgi_dna.Media ContactMary Canady, Senior Marketing Managermcanady@syntheticgenomics.com858.260.1413