Evonetix delivers first chip-synthesised DNA created on its desktop to University of Cambridge

Evonetix, which was ‘highly commended’ in the Technology Company of the Year category at the 2023 Cambridge Independent Science & Technology Awards held yesterday evening, has delivered the first chip-synthesised DNA produced on its desktop platform to the University of Cambridge.

Created at Cambridge Consultants in 2015, the synthetic biology company has been developing a desktop platform for scalable, high-fidelity and rapid gene synthesis. The company has deployed semiconductor technology for DNA synthesis – and the new milestone ensures that the investors in the £44million Series B funding round which closed in February will be very happy.

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 platform.

The proprietary synthesis process utilises a novel silicon chip to control the synthesis of DNA at many thousands of independent thermally controlled reaction sites, or ‘pixels’, and their assembly into highly accurate long DNA on the chip surface through the company’s patented binary assembly process. The approach enables the accurate synthesis of thousands of sequences on a single chip to meet the demand for complex libraries and assembly of long DNA in days rather than weeks.

Dr Molloy said: “I’m delighted to have received the first DNA synthesised 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 synthesise accurate, gene-length DNA in our own lab will revolutionise our ability to experiment and accelerate results across engineering biology.”

Evonetix CEO Colin McCracken said: “We’re proud to be collaborating with scientists at the University of Cambridge as part of our early access programme, delivering our high-fidelity DNA for use in research activities. Synthesising the first user-ready DNA using our desktop platform is a huge accomplishment and a big step towards the development of our platform.”

Dr Matt Hayes, Evonetix CTO and co-founder, said: “Having optimised each element of our technology, this milestone demonstrates that our platform can successfully synthesise DNA using our patented thermally controlled semiconductor chip technology and will allow us to begin expanding the scale of our synthesis.”

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Mike Daniels, VP Product, added: “We expect to release our first Beta platforms during 2024 with the full commercial release coming a few months later. We have not finalised the price point yet but our analysis shows us that this will be very competitive with existing routes for sourcing gene-length DNA.

“The platform uses quite a diverse range of suppliers, as you would expect, and the final assembly is likely to involve a combination of Evonetix internal capabilities and specialist third parties. In terms of sales and distribution, we expect to sell directly in our major markets and use specialist distributors in countries where this is more appropriate. This is a common model for suppliers of complex scientific equipment and helps to ensure the best use of our resources around the world.

“We currently run our operations from our site in Cambridge. We don’t have formal offices in other countries as yet but are starting to bring on local teams, particularly in the US, as we begin preparation for the launch.”

Evonetix currently has 105 employees.