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The biotech company will begin a beta testing program with a select number of clients later this year and take orders for the DNA printer by next year.
FREMONT, CA: DNA Script, based in Paris and with its U.S. headquarters in South San Francisco, closed a $50 million Series AB extension, bringing the total financing round to $89 million on top of an initial $38.5 million Series B in May 2018, led by Amsterdam-based investment firm LSP. DNA Script has raised a total of $116 million since its founding in 2014.
Biotech startup DNA Script is on course to launch the first-ever enzymatic DNA printer. The microwave-sized device will allow researchers to print DNA in-house rather than by mail-order, which is the most common method of obtaining DNA. More importantly, the printer makes DNA using enzymes, which will allow researchers to build much longer strands of DNA than traditional chemical sequencing.
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The capital in the Series B extension, led by Casdin Capital and joined by Santa Clara-based Agilent Technologies and others, will go towards developing its enzymatic DNA synthesis technologies and the commercial launch of the company’s SYNTAX DNA benchtop printer, as it is officially known.
“DNA Script has established itself as an early leader in the development of enzymatic synthesis,” Casdin Capital Managing Partner Eli Casdin said. “Enzymatic DNA synthesis can enable the production of much longer strands of DNA at faster speeds without the need for environmentally harmful solvents.”
DNA sequencing is a fairly established technology. According to the company, the problem is that the established synthesis process uses unstable chemicals that put a cap on how long DNA strings can be, about 300 bases long. If researchers want to study longer strands, they have to stitch them together.
Using enzymes living protein materials that act as catalysts will allow DNA builders to print much longer stings of DNA and with fewer errors, which promises to revolutionize the synthetic biology field by allowing for precise engineering of DNA for commercial applications and allowing for the mass and inexpensive storage of data in the synthesized genetic material.
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