SEATTLE & SAN FRANCISCO–Arzeda, the Protein Design Company™, Twist Bioscience Corporation (Nasdaq: TWST), TeselaGen Biotechnology Inc. and Labcyte Inc. have partnered to showcase a state-of-the-art DNA assembly platform, inviting fellow researchers to learn from their experience. The companies plan to host an event at Arzeda’s headquarters in Seattle on Thursday, May 30th where they will demonstrate several tangible examples of how the integrated platform accelerated development of various products including a food and beverage sweetener as well as a key component in the next generation of plexiglass.

The event, which is open to the public, will feature talks from leaders of each company as well as several demonstrations by Arzeda team members, aimed at educating attendees on how the platform transformed Arzeda’s DNA construction. The platform can be adapted to other research environments and in turn can be a powerful tool for others in the industry to increase throughput and manufacturing speed while reducing production costs.

Arzeda will showcase several pilot examples of the platform including the following: Arzeda’s DNA assembly platform was used to construct 822 plasmids encoding novel enzymes that were computationally designed to produce a new-to-market acrylate that could be used in the next generation of plexiglass and other industrial materials. The costs associated with constructing the plasmids were reduced by nearly 10-fold and the turnaround time decreased by 25 percent. Subsequent platform improvements have continued to reduce costs and turnaround times for other ongoing projects.

“Our Genetic Design-Build team at Arzeda established a high-throughput DNA assembly platform which integrates Arzeda’s genetic design software Scribe™, Twist’s high-quality DNA gene fragments, Labcyte’s Echo® acoustic liquid handler and TeselaGen’s automated DNA assembly design software and LIMS – in just six months,” said Alexandre Zanghellini, Ph.D., CEO of Arzeda. “We have identified exceptional partners in Twist, TeselaGen and Labcyte that allow us to demonstrate that Arzeda’s protein design platform, beginning with our core technology of computational protein design and integrating downstream with high-throughput DNA construction and protein analytics, is much greater than the sum of its individual parts.”

The integrated platform supports the high-throughput testing of Arzeda’s computationally designed proteins and enzymes. After the proteins are designed, Arzeda proprietary genetic design software Scribe™ automatically encodes them into DNA. The resulting DNA sequences are then imported into TeselaGen’s Synthetic Evolution™ DESIGN software to automate the DNA assembly design process and determine the exact DNA fragments to be synthesized. TeselaGen’s software will soon be integrated with Twist’s API ordering system for seamless DNA ordering at scale. After the DNA is made by Twist and received, TeselaGen’s BUILD application automatically generates worklist instructions for the Echo Liquid Handler to perform the DNA assembly at miniaturized reaction volumes, reducing the use of expensive reagents.

“We are building a system that allows you to go from mind to molecule very easily — we help our clients move an idea for a bio-based product out of their heads and into their hands quickly and efficiently,” said Mike Fero, Ph.D., founder and CEO of TeselaGen. “There are a number of attributes in our system — automated protocol generation, interfaces to robots, automated data acquisition rather than by-hand data input, and continuously updated machine learning models — that improve the process and optimize the end product.”

“This collaboration of four leading companies in synthetic biology is a perfect example of how Twist works in service of our customers, providing large amounts of DNA rapidly to remove the bottleneck of DNA synthesis to accelerate research and production,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and cofounder of Twist Bioscience. “We appreciate playing an integral role in a collaborative platform – both of physical component parts for high-throughput DNA assembly and complementary organizations – working together to advance the field of synthetic biology, from industrial chemicals to healthcare to biomaterials.”

“Collaborating with industry partners to bring innovative capabilities to our customers is an important focus for us,” said Randy Dyer, director of product marketing for Labcyte. “By enabling high-speed, low-cost plasmid construction with the Echo Liquid Handler, synthetic biology researchers can accelerate laboratory workflows and produce high-quality DNA assemblies at the same time.”

About Labcyte

Labcyte, now a part of Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, is revolutionizing liquid handling. Echo® Liquid Handlers use sound to precisely transfer liquids without contact, eliminating the use of pipettes. Labcyte instruments are used worldwide throughout the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, as well as by hospitals, service laboratories, contract research organizations, and academic institutions. Our customers work across a wide spectrum of scientific research, including drug discovery, genomics, proteomics, diagnostics and personalized medicine. Labcyte has 63 U.S. patents and others internationally. For more information, visit www.labcyte.comor www.beckman.com.

About TeselaGen

TeselaGen is building a deep learning-powered solution for rapid, precise and accurate DNA making and modification. TeselaGen’s cloud-based enterprise platform bridges the gap between good ideas and the realization of valuable products like vaccines, biologic medicines, and sustainably sourced chemicals. Positioned at the intersection of design and biology, TeselaGen is applying forward engineering approaches to design, build and test in the biological realm. TeselaGen is privately held and is based in the software hub of San Francisco, CA. Follow TeselaGen on Twitter, and learn more at teselagen.com.

About Twist Bioscience Corporation

Twist Bioscience is a leading and rapidly growing synthetic biology company that has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform to industrialize the engineering of biology. The core of the platform is a proprietary technology that pioneers a new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by “writing” DNA on a silicon chip. Twist is leveraging its unique technology to manufacture a broad range of synthetic DNA-based products, including synthetic genes, tools for next-generation sequencing (NGS) preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and development. Twist is also pursuing longer-term opportunities in digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery. Twist makes products for use across many industries including healthcare, industrial chemicals, agriculture and academic research.