Evonetix Delivers First Chip-Synthesized DNA to the University of Cambridge

Evonetix recently announced DNA synthesized using its unique semiconductor chip technology was delivered to the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge. This milestone marks the start of the next stage of development of the company as it expands the range and scale of DNA synthesized on its desktop platform.

The DNA was delivered to Dr. Jenny Molloy, Co-chair of the Engineering Biology Interdisciplinary Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. The successful testing of the DNA in Dr. Molloy’s laboratory further validates Evonetix’s patented thermally controlled semiconductor technology and supports the further development of the company’s desktop DNA synthesis platform, which is being developed to enable scientists to synthesize long DNA in their own lab, enabling the biology revolution.

Dr. Jenny Molloy, Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge, said “I’m delighted to have received the first DNA synthesized on Evonetix’s semiconductor chips. Rapid access to custom-designed DNA is a key challenge for us and Evonetix’s technology is an exciting new approach to meet the growing demand from researchers. Having the capability to quickly synthesize accurate, gene-length DNA in our own lab will revolutionize our ability to experiment and accelerate results across engineering biology.”

Colin McCracken, Chief Executive Officer at Evonetix, added “We are proud to be collaborating with scientists at the University of Cambridge as part of our early access program, delivering our high-fidelity DNA for use in research activities. Synthesizing the first user-ready DNA using our desktop platform is a huge accomplishment and a big step towards the development of our platform. Following our recent fundraise¹, this achievement continues our work towards full commercialization of our technology.”

Dr. Matt Hayes, Chief Technology Officer at Evonetix, also added “Our technology brings together entirely new approaches to chemistry and process control to enable DNA synthesis in any lab. Having optimized each element of our technology, this milestone demonstrates that our platform can successfully synthesize DNA using our patented thermally controlled semiconductor chip technology and will allow us to begin expanding the scale of our synthesis.”

Evonetix is reimagining biology by developing a radically different approach to gene synthesis – a highly parallel desktop platform to synthesize DNA at unprecedented accuracy and scale. The technology builds on scalability and density from the semiconductor industry to deliver a step-change in performance for the production of DNA. The company’s platform will place DNA synthesis in the hands of every researcher and change how DNA is accessed, made and used. This new paradigm in gene synthesis will facilitate and enable the rapidly growing field of synthetic biology.

The proprietary Evonetix approach utilizes a silicon chip, made by MEMS processing, that integrates physics with biology, and controls the synthesis of DNA at many thousands of independently controlled reaction sites or ‘pixels’ on the chip surface in a highly parallel fashion. The approach is compatible with both chemical and enzymatic DNA synthesis. Following synthesis, strands are assembled on-chip into double-stranded DNA in a process that identifies and removes errors, providing accuracy that is several orders of magnitude better than the conventional approach.

The Evonetix DNA writer will be a desktop device, available to every researcher, and providing scalable, accurate DNA synthesis to enable biological systems to be engineered with unprecedented accuracy and scale – this is third-generation DNA synthesis.