Synthetic biology is rapidly growing due to its great market potential and dropping prices of DNA synthesis. The cost of synthesizing DNA is currently 100 times cheaper than it was 14 years ago. Investors in synthetic biology are looking to the field to find solutions to bridge technology and biology. DNA synthesis is appealing to investors in the technology sector due to the fact that DNA is now seen as “programmable,” in that it can be broken down into data and manipulated to adhere to a specific code. The number of synthetic biology companies has increased by 50% since 2011, with 411 firms now in the field. Synthetic biology network company SynBioBeta, for example, received $1.21 billion in investments in 2016, three times more than it had got in 2011. Initially, synthetic biology was used to create biofuels from algae, but now providers have branched out into creating products for pharmaceutical, fabric, fragrance and food companies, among others. Although there are ethical concerns about the limits to synthetic biology, the “disruptive” technology is gaining traction due to its potential.

Source: Reuters