News & events
Keep up-to-date with the latest Synthetic Biology information from across the industry
BBC highlight Modern Synthesis
Ben Reeve from Modern Synthesis and Tom Ellis from the Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College are featured on the One Show talking about the m...
Measurement for Recovery
Measurement for RecoveryNew programme to help boost competitiveness and resilience of UK industry, led by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL)NPL is...
Moving to the World of Digital Biology
Professor Richard Kitney shares his thoughts on engineering biology and its role in today's world. It seems as if at moment coronavirus for COVID-19 i...
Evonetix raises $30 million USD (£23 million GBP)
Series B investment led by west-coast investor Foresite Capital, with all existing investors participating in the roundFunds will be used to accelerat...
Evonetix collaborates with imec to scale-up chip-based technology production for third generation DNA synthesis platform
CAMBRIDGE, UK, and LEUVEN, Belgium, 13 January 2020 – EVONETIX LTD (‘Evonetix’), the synthetic biology company developing a desktop platform for scala...
SynbiTECH2020 - Sponsor or Exhibit?
Happy new year! 2020 is the start of a new decade in which synthetic biology will thrive and grow – by 2030 we expect the global marketplace to be at ...
Prokarium secures £4.6m Wellcome funding for Entervax
Prokarium has announced an investment of £4.59 million from Wellcome to fund two clinical trials of its lead programme, Entervax.Follow this link for ...
Evonetix establishes scientific advisory board
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 20 December 2018 – EVONETIX LTD (‘Evonetix’), the Cambridge-based company pioneering an innovative approach to scalable and high-fideli...
Synthace launches ground-breaking new whitepaper
Comprehensive report heralds the beginning of Computer Aided Biology (CAB)LONDON October 01 2018 - Synthace Ltd., the company behind the leading cloud...
A Lloyd's Emerging Risk Report
Synthetic biology, the application of engineering principles to genetic modification is a market forecast to grow to $39bn by 2020. In recent years sc...
RebelBio | Ready to change the world with biology?
RebelBio, the world’s first early-stage life-sciences accelerator, has opened their applications for the Winter Programme. Science graduates, PhDs, po...
Transformational European Commission Grant dramatically accelerates novel biomaterial company Customem
CustoMem, founded in 2015 by two Imperial College London graduates, Henrik Hagemann and Gabi Santosa, has received a substantial €1.4m grant that will...
NPL and Imperial College London Launch a New Virtual Lab to Establish the UK Centre for Engineering Biology, Metrology and Standards
NPL, the UK's National Measurement Institute (NMI), and SynbiCITE at Imperial College London, have announced the establishment of a new £7 million virtual lab to underpin their joint Centre for Engineering Biology, Metrology and Standards to help the UK synthetic biology industry improve the manufacturing and adoption of new products - in partnership with LGC and NIBSC.
Prominent players in the UK’s thriving synbio sector
SynbiCITE looks at some of the companies leading the way in UK synthetic biology, creating innovative new technologies and driving the growth of the UK bioeconomy.
Three upcoming Innovation Funding competitions through InnovateUK
InnovateUK, the UK’s innovation agency, has three forthcoming Innovation Funding Competitions that opened recently.
A vibrant synthetic biology ecosystem has developed in the UK – promising new jobs and valuable technology
A survey of synthetic biology company start-ups in the UK is published today by SynbiCITE, the UK’s national centre for the commercialisation of synthetic biology. The study reveals a vibrant ecosystem sustaining a thriving and rapidly growing sector of the bioeconomy.
Bio-start Awards 2017: Finalists Announced
On Tuesday 11th July 2017, the finals and awards for the first annual Bio-start competition will take place. Read about the finalists here.
Synthetic biology – does industry get it?
As part of the conference series ‘Breakthrough science and technologies: transforming our future’, the Royal Society hosted a conference posing the question ‘Synthetic biology – does industry get it?’. Read the conference report here.
Engineering Biology: the new IET open access journal
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has launched a new journal, entitled Engineering Biology, to reflect the fact that synthetic biology/engineering biology is, fundamentally, now widely recognised as a field of engineering.
Who owns CRISPR?
Who owns CRISPR: this blog looks at the long and contentious battle over the intellectual property rights to this breakthrough technology.
SynBioBeta London 2017
2017 saw another successful year for SynBioBeta London, with synthetic biology researchers, investors and enthusiasts alike flocking to London for lively talks and great networking. Read SynbiCITE's insights on the event here.
Reviewing the IET-SynbiCITE Engineering Biology Conference 2016
December 2016 saw the 1st International Conference on Engineering Biology take place in London. Here we look back over some conference highlights and award winners.
International Genetically Engineered Competition (iGEM) 2016
Attributed to Eleanor Chambers iGEM volunteer The 2016 Giant Jamboree took place at the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston last week (Oct 27-...
Entrepreneur Q&A: Ted Fjallman
Q: What is your background?A: Scientist – I liked physics and genetics, but I was already interested in business and communication (and history) at a ...
The Second Human Genome Project: HGP-Write
Professor Paul Freemont discuses the potential sequel to the Human Genome Project: HGP-Write.
BBC Click Combatting Cancer
BBC Click meets the scientists harnessing the power of robotics and AI to find new cancer treatments with fewer side effects. See James Field from Lab...
SynbiTECH2020 is going virtual!
SynbiTECH 2020 is now entirely virtual to ensure everyone can join us to discuss the latest transformations in synthetic biology and its contribution to the global bioeconomy.
A New Manufacturing Approach to Vaccine Production
Professor Richard Kitney discusses vaccine production using synthetic biology. So, the major topic of the moment is coronavirus, to which, as we know,...
Synthetic Biology at Scale
Professor Richard Kitney, Co-founder, SynbiTECH, discusses the industrial scaling problem. I recently attended the annual Fellows Day at The Royal Aca...
Macrophage Pharma Expands Executive Team with Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Technology Officer
Macrophage Pharma Limited ("MPL"), a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of next-generation immunomodulatory small molecules indu...
Data-driven design and the opportunities it presents for biotech companies
Professor Paul Freemont, Co-Director of SynbiCITE, discussed the synthetic biology industry and the opportunities it is creating in a recently paper published in The Emerging Topics in Life Sciences entitled “Synthetic biology industry: data-driven design is creating new opportunities in biotechnology”.
SynbiTECH conference gets up close and personal with the synbio companies powering the uk bioeconomy
SynbiTECH 2019 is the only international conference focused on synthetic biology taking place in the UK in 2019, designed for senior business leaders from start-ups to multinationals, investors and policy makers.
Synthetic biology start-up Colorifix raises $3m Series A round to scale its revolutionary textile dyeing solution
Colorifix, a company that has developed the first commercial biological dyeing process, has raised a Series A round of $3 million from impact and stra...
SynbiCITE launches new five-year strategy
SynbiCITE, the UK’s national centre for commercialisation of synthetic biology, launches a new five-year strategy underpinned by a new £5M grant from UKRI and other sources.
New competition - metasurfaces for defence and security
This themed competition is seeking proposals for innovative solutions that will pull ideas from recent breakthroughs in metasurface science into produ...
SynbiCITE House of Lords Investor Breakfast
The SynbiCITE House of Lords Investor Breakfast was kindly hosted by The Lord Willetts - who instigated the Government’s ‘8 Great Technologies’ progra...
SynbiCITE welcomes RebelBio to London
We're the world's first early stage life sciences accelerator. Twice a year we invest up to $250K in startups solving global challenges with life itse...
£17 million boost to the UK’s leading life sciences sector
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, announced this week £17million new funding will be supplied for UK life science, helping to create real benefits for the NHS and patients.
Synpromics announced as Best Emerging UK Synthetic Biotech Company at OBN Awards 2017
SynbiCITE congratulates Synpromics as the winner of Best Emerging UK Synthetic Biotech Company at OBN’s 9th Annual Awards.
Looking ahead: Conference season has arrived
As the summer draws to a close, the life science sector once again gears up for conference season. Here we take a look at some events we are particularly excited about:
Bio-start Awards 2017
Bio-start awards over £100K in zero-equity prizes to 6 high-impact start-ups Bio-start celebrates UK innovative start-ups with commercial ideas that ...
Q&A with Bio-Start mentor Debra Conway
Q&A with Bio-Start mentor Debra Conway Managing Director, CyBio Northern Europe.Bio-Start: What in your background makes you a good mentor to the ...
Steve Bates brings synthetic biology to Buckingham Palace
Innovation meets tradition as Steve Bates, CEO of BIA, becomes the first person to wear spider silk while being honoured at Buckingham Palace.
Shooting for the moon: SynbiCITE share industrial knowledge at GP-write
On May 9th and 10th, 2017 around 250 scientists, industry leaders, policy makers and ethicists gathered at the New York Genome Center for the second meeting of GP-write. GP-write is an open, international collaboration that aims to reduce by 1,000-fold within 10 years the costs of engineering and testing large genomes in cell lines. Dr David McClymont, Head of Automation, The London DNA Foundry, shares his thoughts.
Japanese government delegation seeks SynbiCITE’s advice on start-ups creation and synthetic biology business opportunities
A recent UK visit by a high-level Japanese delegation of government officials and industrialists recognises the tremendous progress the UK has made, building on its established lead in Europe, towards becoming a major global biotech cluster.
Engineering Biology for a Better World
Two recent events saw SynbiCITE working in partnership with OBN to connect with new audiences; a Senior Executive Breakfast at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London in late February, and the BioTuesday on ‘Engineering Biology for a Better World’ at the Mathematical Institute in Oxford in early March. Both drew on the idea of engineering biology as a technology with the power to ‘heal us, feed us and fuel us’.
Bio-start: the story so far and looking forward to the final
As 2017 kicks off, we take a look back at the last 4 months of the Bio-start competition, and at what is to come as it progresses this year.
Synthetic Biology and Biomedicine
Engineering microenvironmental sensitive devices for targeted therapies With rapidly progressing rational design of synthetic devices, synthetic biol...
Lean LaunchPad for Synthetic Biology Alumni: Where are they now? Part 2
Gabriella Santosa and Florence Gschwend were awarded the prestigious 2016 Althea PrizeIn the latest of our occasional series, we look at past particip...
IET/SynbiCITE Joint Workshop and Conference on Engineering Biology
SynbiCITE and the IET are planning a joint Engineering Biology workshop and conference for December 2016.
New Government report
UK Government report published this week entitled “Engineering Biology: Opportunities for the UK Economy and National Goals”, is an important document...
Engineering a solution to high throughput COVID-19 virus testing in just nine days
SynbiCITE’s London BioFoundry acts on the WHO recommendation of ‘Test, Test, Test’ to show how throughput can be significantly increasedRe-thinking th...
The Power of the DARPA Approach
Professor Richard Kitney shares his thoughts on funding models following the budget announcementIn my blog last week, I was talking about the developm...
The UK SynBio Industry - what does the future hold?
Professor Richard Kitney, Co-founder, SynbiTECH, discusses the UK synbio industry post-Brexit. It’s been an exciting couple of weeks. First, James Fie...
Biotech firm MiAlgae secures £1m to turn whisky by-products into pet and fish food
An Edinburgh-based biotech startup which turns whisky distillation by-products into pet and fish food has received investment of £1 million.MiAlgae pr...
The Cell Factories of the Future
Professor Paul Freemont, Co-Director of SynbiCITE, is the lead author of a recent article published by the World Economic Forum on this subject, entitled “How scientists are turning living cells into the tiny factories of the future”.
Book before March 29th to receive 20% discount*
Building a multibillion-dollar synthetic biology industry The Synthetic Biology conference taking place in 2019, in London, that is not to be missed....
Addressing Global Challenges
Expert insights from SynbiCITE's leadership on the role of synthetic biology in solving some of the most significant challenges currently faced by our society
Evonetix makes key appointments to support development of novel gene synthesis technology
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 18 September 2018 – EVONETIX LTD (‘Evonetix’), the company pioneering an innovative approach to scalable and high-fidelity gene synthes...
Global Biofoundry Meeting, London, June 2018
A meeting was held at Imperial College London on June 21st/22nd 2018, which gathered fifteen[1]of the leading synthetic biology biofoundries from around the world to discuss current activities and exchange information on key capabilities and projects being developed by these groups.
Save the date for our first Synthetic Biology Industrial Translation Showcase
The inaugural SynbiCITE – Synthetic Biology Industrial Translation Showcase will take place on Tuesday 5th June from 9.00am-5.00pm at the Royal Academy of Engineering
Job Offers at Eligo Bioscience following $20M Funding Round
http://eligo-bioscience.com/careers
Professor Paul Freemont speaks on BBC Inside Science
The speed and ease of precise infection diagnosis could be transformed by synthetic biologists at Imperial College, London. Paul Freemont tells Adam a...
Synthace raises £7.3m to accelerate biotechnology to enable faster breakthroughs
The Company’s Antha operating system brings end-to-end digitization to biotechnology, replacing current artisanal methods of development Speaking...
World leading DNA technology is expanding its operations in London as it grows to meet global DNA demand
Touchlight Genetics Ltd has developed a revolutionary DNA technology that can synthetically manufacture commercial scale DNA in a two-week process – a...
UK Synthetic Biology Start up Survey 2017
We would like to invite you to the Breakfast Seminar Launch of SynbiCITE’s UK Synthetic Biology Start-up Survey on Friday 21st July 2017, at 9.00-10:4...
Q&A with Tara Hill, Twist Bioscience
A Q&A with Tara Hill of Twist Bioscience about how she started out in science and business
Bio-start Awards 2017
Tickets for the Bio-start Awards 2017 are on offer now, and spaces are limited. To register your place for free, visit the Bio-start Awards 2017 sign up on Eventbrite.
Synpromics raises £5.2m of new investment
Synpromics Ltd, the leading synthetic promoter and gene control company, is pleased to announce that it has completed a financing round of £5.2M. Participants included existing investors Calculus Capital, the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise and private shareholders.
Two new start-up plans win BrisSynBio’s first synthetic biology entrepreneurship competition
Two start-ups' proposals have been chosen as the winners of the first competition to discover and accelerate new synthetic biology companies at the University of Bristol.
A look forward to SynBioBeta London 2017
The annual SynBioBeta London Conference, now in its 5th year, will return to London from the 4th-6th April 2017. With this exciting event less than a ...
DIY Labware: the advanced cupholder
Sometimes your liquid handling robot needs to be able to use tubes but they have to be placed in exactly the correct position every time. 3D printing ...
Synthetic Biology Publications: Top Ten
Synthetic biology first entered the scientific lexicon in 1970s in the wake of the then recent developments in recombinant DNA technology when Waclaw ...
SynbiCITE Fact-Finding Mission to China
SynbiCITE reports on its recent fact-finding mission to China and the state of Sino-synbio.
We Use ‘Version Control’ for Synthetic Biology at The Foundry. Here’s Why You Should Too
Drawing inspiration from programming.
SynbiCITE Showcase 2022
The aim of the 1-Day SynbiTECH Showcase was to reflect important issues and changes in the field of synthetic biology/engineering biology. As with the...
COVID-19 - Components to the solution
Professor Richard Kitney discusses vaccines, effective testing for antigens and antibodies, effective diagnosis of the various stages of the disease a...
Fostering a Synthetic Biology standards agenda through the Centre for Engineering Biology, Metrology and Standards
Synthetic biology is seen as having huge potential to cut across different concepts, capabilities and technologies and transform processes within indu...
SynbiTECH 2020: SynBio and Sustainability
Professor Richard Kitney, Co-founder, SynbiTECH, provides an overview of this year's SynbiTECH. The overarching theme of SynbiTECH 2020 is sustainabil...
Kick off 2020 with a bang!
Don't miss our SUPER EARLY BIRD offer, ending 31st January! "Pretty much everyone we were looking to connect with in the synthetic biology and indust...
SynbiTECH 2020 - Register your interest
SynbiTECH will return on the 26-27th October 2020!To be kept up to date on ticket sales and conference announcements please register your interest her...
2018 Meeting on UK Synthetic Genomics
On the 17th September 2018, a one-day meeting entitled "Synthesising a Human Genome: What could go right? " was held at the Wellcome Trust in London...
Evonetix wins Best Emerging Synthetic Biology Company at the OBN Awards
London, UK, 12th October 2018 / Sciad Newswire / SynbiCITE would like to congratulate Evonetix on winning ‘Best Emerging Synthetic Biology Company’ at...
Buildings made from fungi? Meet London’s pop-up bio-lab innovators
If there’s one place you wouldn’t expect a new biotech research lab to be built, it’s slap bang in the middle of a busy London marketFind out more her...
SynbiCITE/Synbiobeta Webinar
If you missed the webinar you can catch up here https://synbiobeta.com/synbicite-webinarThe webinar highlighted findings from SynBioBeta’s 2018 Q2 inv...
Prokarium secures $10 million investment
Prokarium secures $10 million investment from Saudi, Swedish and Korean investors for clinical development of revolutionary thermostable vaccinesKeele...
Breathing chandeliers and algae sculptures: bionic art comes to the V&A
Arborea, based in Imperial College’s White City innovation hub, has been featured in the Financial Times.
Jennifer Doudna talks to Jim al-Khalili on CRISPR/cas9
Jennifer Doudna, developer of the gene editing system called CRISPR/cas9, talks to Jim al-Khalili.
Synpromics expands facilities to meet demand for revolutionary gene control technology
Synpromics Ltd, the leader in gene control and synthetic promoter development, today moves to new world-class facilities at the Roslin Innovation Centre.
Bio-start 2.0
On 11th of July 2017, 11 months to the day from the launch of the Bio-start competition, CustoMem was announced as the overall winner, receiving £100k. Bio-start was met with widespread enthusiasm and support, and SynbiCITE fully intend to take the competition into its second year in 2018, with new sponsors, mentors and an eager new cohort of start-ups.
CustoMem wins £100K 1st Prize in Bio-start competition
SynbiCITE and Rainbow Seed Fund congratulate CustoMem as winners of the 1st Prize in the Bio-start competition for companies using engineering biology to solve significant global problems.
Q&A with Bio-Start mentor James Hallinan
A Q&A with James Hallinan about his experience as a mentor with the Bio-Start engineering biology competition
Update: Investing for the long haul
The Rainbow Seed Fund – one of the founders of the Bio-start award – is seeking early-stage companies for high growth, high-risk investment. The RSF combines the best of the public and private sectors to capitalise companies spun out from the UK’s research base in synthetic biology.
Touchlight welcomes Dr. Geoff Smith
Touchlight is very pleased to welcome Dr. Geoff Smith as the Head of Innovations. Geoff brings extensive experience in genomics technologies and applications, with roles including Vice President leading Technology Development at Illumina and CEO of Cambridge Epigenetix.
Innovations in cell-free synthetic biology are transforming biotechnology
Richard Kelwick and Professor Paul Freemont comment on The Economist's article on cell-free synthetic biology “Cell-free biotech will make for better products”.
Investing in a better future: a look forward to the SynbiCITE Investor Breakfast at the House of Lords
Engineering biology is a catalyst for growing the global bioeconomy, and represents a clear money making opportunity. It will shape our future and is ...
Lean LaunchPad for Synthetic Biology Review
As this Autumn’s Lean Launchpad for Synthetic Biology drew to a close, the teams described the lessons learned from the programme. William Pelton who ...
Some Thoughts on the Engineering of Biology
Prof Richard Kitney, Co-Director SynbiCITEIt is almost a decade and a half since Tom Knight introduced the concept of BioBricks, or standard biologica...
CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing partners with CAR-T cell therapy
The CRISPR-Cas9 system has rapidly become an indispensable tool in research labs around the world. Now it is finding an application as a therapeutic.
Lean LaunchPad for Synthetic Biology Alumni: Where are they now? Part 1
The entrepreneurial programme Lean Launchpad for Synthetic Biology returns to London this autumn. Where are last year's budding entrepreneurs now?