Ginkgo Bioworks, which is building a platform for cell programming and biosecurity, has opened Bioworks7, the latest expansion of its biological engineering foundry. With this new space, Ginkgo increases its capacity and capabilities to serve its partners in the spaces of cell and gene therapy, biomanufacturing and general mammalian programming for therapeutic applications and new biopharmaceutical modalities.
 
Ginkgo’s foundry automates and scales the process of organism engineering, allowing engineers to prototype thousands of biological designs. This evolving platform equips companies and labs from startups to large pharmaceutical companies with access to robust technology, without the need to invest in costly lab and R&D infrastructure in-house and aims to drive down the cost per design.
 
“Following our initial efforts in Bioworks4 in 2019, and expansion to our Cambridge facility, Ginkgo has created a strong foundation for culturing, engineering, and interrogating a variety of primary cells and cell lines to support both discovery and manufacturing efforts for cell and gene therapy, RNA therapeutics, and biologics including antibody and enzyme-based therapies,” said Narendra Maheshri, Head of Mammalian Foundry at Ginkgo Bioworks. “With Bioworks7, Ginkgo is able to further scale this work with dedicated capabilities for stem cell engineering, centralized mammalian cell operations services and expanded capabilities in existing areas.”

Expanded Capacity

This launch will provide Ginkgo with the capacity to interface with more strategic partners to advance improved cells into therapeutics or biomanufacturing. In addition to the new foundry space, Ginkgo has also added expertise across its biopharma team, including the appointment of Dr. Behzad Mahdavi, senior vice president of biopharma manufacturing & life science tools.
 
Ginkgo’s existing work in the biopharma space – such as partnerships with Aldevron, Biogen, Microba, Moderna, Novo Nordisk, Optimvia, Persephone, SaponiQx, Selecta Biosciences, Synlogic, Tantu, Totient, and Merck – span many therapeutic areas and approaches and contribute to the company’s growing expertise and Codebase. In addition, Ginkgo recently acquired Circularis, a biotechnology company with a proprietary circular RNA and promoter screening platform, to enable new solutions across bioproduction, RNA therapeutics, cell therapy, and gene therapy partnerships.
 
“Since the opening of Bioworks4 when we formally kicked off our work in the mammalian space, we’ve experienced significant growth, creating new opportunities for us to advance our capabilities and contribute to our valued pharma partners,” said Jason Kelly, Ginkgo’s CEO and co-founder. “As the synthetic biology ecosystem rapidly evolves and the urgent need for biopharma options increases against the backdrop of the pandemic, we’re energized to expand our foundry to bring new capabilities to service the biopharma industry. With today’s opening, we look forward to enabling our partners to program mammalian cells at scale for more effective biomanufacturing workflows and new and improved biopharma products.”

About the Facility

The Bioworks7 facility comprises 6,600 square feet of Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) lab space at Ginkgo’s headquarters in Boston’s Seaport District. It is co-located with Bioworks4, Ginkgo’s other mammalian foundry space, allowing for synergy with existing spaces within its headquarters. Notably, Bioworks7 houses a dedicated space for induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) work and advanced robotics to further scale and automate a variety of mammalian workflows. By investing in the expansion of its mammalian foundry platform, Ginkgo expects to provide significant runway to support new programs in the pharmaceutical and biotech vertical.
 
Bioworks7 and Ginkgo’s advancement in the biopharma industry comes on the heels of its announcement of its foundry-enabled methods for large-scale, pooled combinatorial library screening of CAR domains for improved persistence. As its platform evolves to spearhead monumental work in the biopharma space, Ginkgo is equipping companies with the tools they need to innovate and shape therapeutics.