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Weekly Digest

Conference Schedule

Filter by Day
Day 1
1/25/2022
10:00 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Welcome
Moderated by:
Speakers
John Cumbers
SynBioBeta
Libby Schaaf
City of Oakland
Frank Tate
SynBioBeta
Day 1
1/25/2022
10:10 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Fireside Chat
Moderated by:
Speakers
Day 1
1/25/2022
10:40 AM
Entrepreneur
Main Stage (East Hall)
If You Fund It, They Will Come: How Strategic and Ethical Investment Can Build A Better World With Biology
Moderated by:
It’s clear that building a more sustainable world requires significant capital and long-term investor support. How can high-profile investors lead the way in ethical funding and a globally united investment strategy?
Speakers
Derek Norman
Leaps by Bayer
Omri Amirav Drory
NFX Fund
Jason Pontin
DCVC
Day 1
1/25/2022
11:10 AM
NeuroTech
Main Stage (East Hall)
Engineering the Mind: Is Neurotech the Next Stage in Human Evolution?
Moderated by:
Neurotechnology offers a new way to engineer biology at the core of what makes us human: our minds. But what could--and should-- the future of neurologically enhanced society look like? Neurotech could enable the blind to see. But it's important to not be blinded by the power of the technology itself.
Speakers
Matt Angle
Paradromics
Day 1
1/25/2022
11:40 AM
Tools/Platforms
Main Stage (East Hall)
Grow with Ginkgo
Moderated by:
Ginkgo’s platform is built for you. Use it to solve your hardest challenges or make your coolest ideas come to life.
Speakers
Jason Kelly
Ginkgo Bioworks
Day 1
1/25/2022
1:30 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Rocket Talks
Moderated by:
Speakers
Day 1
1/25/2022
2:30 PM
Food of the Future
Main Stage (East Hall)
Beyond Plants: The Third Agricultural Revolution
Moderated by:
The challenge of decarbonizing our food system can seem overwhelming. Until recently, plants had been the staple for making alternative proteins. But novel technologies and ingredients are opening up new possibilities for sustainable, global nutrition. What does the future of food look -- and taste -- like when we aren’t limited by only what animals and plants we can domesticate?
Speakers
Day 1
1/25/2022
4:00 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Geno-Writing™: Seamless and Chromosome-Wide Design and Re-Synthesis Platform for Mammalian Synthetic Genomics.
Moderated by:
Logomix’s core competence is Geno-Writing™ platform: a collective knowledge and technologies that enable Mb-scale design and re-construction of human and the other mammalian genomes to create newly functionalized cells that can not be created by simple CRISPR technology. Currently, Logomix provides human model cells of diseases that are caused (or are hypothesized to be caused) by larger chromosomal structural modification than simple indels, such as triplet repeat diseases and pathogenic CNVs. At the same time, Logomix is pursuing the potentials of Geno-Wiring™ platform to develop novel master cells for cell therapy and to apply it the platform to non-human animals, plants and microbes that have long and complex genomes. We look for "tough problems" in genome engineering to co-create new biological values for customers across a range of industries from chemistry, agriculture to pharmaceuticals.
Speakers
Day 1
1/25/2022
4:05 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Opportunities and Challenges for Women Founders and Investors in Synthetic Bio
Moderated by:
Hear from our panel of distinguished founders and investors on their journey starting or investing in synthetic bio. The synthetic biology ecosystem has slowly evolved to include more women, but still women are underrepresented as founders, investors and board members. The panel will share how they successfully achieved their goals, and what they learned along the way.
Speakers
Day 1
1/25/2022
4:35 PM
Food of the Future
Main Stage (East Hall)
Encoding the Art of Science into Automation Software
Moderated by:
The scientific process is as much of an art as it is science. However, automation solutions have not been built with the artist - or scientist - in mind, making it difficult for these teams to automate their experiments. Instead, scientists should have intuitive tools that simplify the underlying complexity of automated systems, while intelligently surfacing complete and key information. To do this, Artificial broadens the use of 3D digital twins to be more than a beautiful, physical representation of the lab. Using these digital twins, scientists can visually schedule and monitor their workflows as well as build interactive digital assistants for all of their manual protocols. Come learn how Artificial is using 3D visual representations to provide a simple, intuitive way for scientists to leverage automation without losing focus on the science.
Speakers
Nikhita Singh
Artificial Inc
Day 1
1/25/2022
4:40 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
OPEN SESSION
Moderated by:
OPEN SESSION
Speakers
Day 1
1/25/2022
5:00 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Delivering on the Promise of Synthetic Biology
Moderated by:
Join Sunil Chandran, SVP of R&D at Amyris for a spotlight talk on how Amyris’ synthetic biology platform delivers No Compromise solutions for best-in-class products to consumers and commercial partners that are scalable, sustainable, and have unmatched purity.
Speakers
Sunil Chandran
Amyris
Day 1
1/25/2022
5:05 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
synbio v2.0 - revolutionising medicine with the next disruptive technology - human cells
Moderated by:
In this talk, Dr Mark Kotter, CEO and founder of bit.bio will explain how his company is leading synbio v2.0 - harnessing the power of human cells to enable the next generation of therapies. bit.bio’s takes a software approach to biology. Their breakthrough gene engineering technology, opti-ox, provides deterministic control over the genetic programs that encode the identity of cells. This enables bit.bio to manufacture cells with precision, consistency and at scale. This source of unlimited, consistent and precisely defined human cells will enable a new generation of cell therapies. Moreover, consistent human cell and disease models open up new opportunities for research and drug development and will give new medicines better chances of making it from the bench into clinical studies and eventually to patients.
Speakers
Mark Kotter
bit.bio
Day 1
1/25/2022
5:25 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Biology on the Blockchain - The Pitfalls and Promises of Genomic Ownership
Moderated by:
Who owns a person's genome? Is it the original individual or can it be licensed to pharma and research organizations? Can genomes be bought, sold, and traded like so many other goods in daily life? The rise of NFTs and blockchains may offer new tools for genomic ownership where individuals can benefit--and track--when their genetic information is used for profit. But genome NFTs could also run afoul of patient privacy, legal battles, and even denial of life insurance. How can we use blockchains in biology responsibly and what other potential benefits could we discover next?
Speakers
George Church
Harvard & MIT
Day 1
1/25/2022
5:55 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Wrap Up
Moderated by:
Speakers
Frank Tate
SynBioBeta
Day 2
1/26/2022
9:00 AM
Main Stage (East Hall)
Welcome
Moderated by:
Speakers
Frank Tate
SynBioBeta
Day 2
1/26/2022
9:10 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Twist Biopharma: Writing the Future of Biologics
Moderated by:
Twist Biopharma, a division of twist Bioscience, combines high-throughput DNA synthesis technology with deep expertise in antibody engineering to provide end-to-end antibody discovery solutions — from gene synthesis to antibody optimization. The result is a make-test cycle that yields better antibodies against more diverse and challenging targets. Twist Biopharma will continue to optimize and expand its library synthesis and screening capabilities in partnership with other discovery technologies to further utilize the Twist make-test cycle.
Speakers
Aaron Sato
Twist Bioscience
Day 2
1/26/2022
9:30 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Vertical Integration for Commercial Success
Moderated by:
The commercial success of most synthetic biology products is dependent upon precision fermentation, applications development, and of course, sales and marketing. Conagen’s full vertical integration across all of these functions will be presented with some exemplary, commercialized synbio-derived products.
Speakers
Day 2
1/26/2022
9:35 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Title Coming Soon
Moderated by:
Description Coming Soon
Speakers
Day 2
1/26/2022
10:05 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Ultimate Interface for Biology - Designing New Life in XR (VR, MR, AR)
Moderated by:
Biological systems and their data are 3D. Yet, the way scientists interact with this data is bottlenecked by 2D monitors, keyboard, and mouse. Recent advancements in virtual, mixed, and augmented reality (AKA XR), can turbo boost biological design and discovery. Design and explore biology like never before with the ultimate interface for biological data.
Speakers
Steve McCloskey
Nanome Inc.
Day 2
1/26/2022
10:10 AM
Food of the Future
Main Stage (East Hall)
Pass the Burger, Hold the Cow - the Future of Food is Here
Moderated by:
In the future, killing animals for meat may become the exception, not the rule. How can the leading alternative protein technologies work together to disrupt current, unsustainable food systems? What will it take to produce alt-meats at the volumes needed to impact our climate crisis and impending global food shortage? What could our food future taste like?
Speakers
Pat Brown
Impossible Foods
Day 2
1/26/2022
10:40 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
SYNTAX System — Same-Day DNA Synthesis to Power Molecular Biology & Genomics Workflows
Moderated by:
Powered by DNA Script’s proprietary Enzymatic DNA Synthesis (EDS) technology, the new SYNTAX System provides access to nucleic acid synthesis, in your lab, under your control. The SYNTAX System enables researchers to print custom DNA oligos, including those that have historically challenged conventional methods. The fully automated benchtop system delivers these sequences ready for immediate use in the design-synthesize-test-learn iterative cycles of molecular biology and genomics workflows.
Speakers
Thomas Ybert
DNA Script
Day 2
1/26/2022
10:45 AM
Entrepreneur
Main Stage (East Hall)
Building Global Leadership in the Age of Biology
Moderated by:
Governments and global organizations play a critical role in advancing biological solutions to our world’s biggest problems. Weather-resistant crops, low-carbon fuels, biomanufactured chemicals, and advanced medicines will struggle to make an impact without institutional support. But how can world leaders support these technologies when many are unaware of their potential? How can we build ethical and biosecure frameworks into global policies and create transparent dialogues between global leaders, bioengineers, and the public?
Speakers
Day 2
1/26/2022
11:15 AM
Tools/Platforms
Main Stage (East Hall)
Cell-Free Tools to Revolutionize the DNA Construction Paradigm
Moderated by:
Newly emerging methods for DNA synthesis and cloning are transforming how we do basic research, drug discovery as well as therapeutics manufacturing. By unlocking the prokaryotic replication machinery from the cell and into a cell-free platform, OriCiro Genomics has opened up the door to fast and streamlined in vitro vector assembly and amplification of large DNAs up to 1 Mb in a single tube. Our technology has removed the various constraints of a living cell which enables DNA manipulation with unprecedented freedom. Come learn the many ways of how our cell-free DNA tools can play a role in accelerating discovery and facilitate the drug development process.
Speakers
Nasir Bashiruddin
OriCiro Genomics, Inc.
Day 2
1/26/2022
11:20 AM
Entrepreneur
Main Stage (East Hall)
Scientist Entrepreneurs — Scaling Breakout Engineering Biology Companies
Moderated by:
Arvind Gupta and Ursheet Parikh, early-stage investors, company builders and Mayfield partners, along with Raj Judge from Wilson Sonsini, will discuss scaling bioengineering startups and touch upon three seminal areas that influence trajectory: fundraising, hiring and product design.
Speakers
Day 2
1/26/2022
11:50 AM
Next-Gen Medicine
Main Stage (East Hall)
Drug Discovery, Reinvented
Moderated by:
Araceli Biosciences is a data-driven technology company focused on disrupting the status quo of drug discovery, by fusing innovative hardware platforms with proprietary AI-powered software. Araceli’s high content analysis platform Endeavor™ combines unmatched speed and resolution to address longstanding bottlenecks in pharmaceutical research and development. Providing ten times the throughput and double the resolution of previous platforms, Endeavor is revolutionizing drug discovery by delivering accelerated target identification and selection. With a strong industrial pedigree, Araceli is poised to usher in a new era of drug discovery.
Speakers
Day 2
1/26/2022
1:30 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Rocket Talks
Moderated by:
Speakers
Day 2
1/26/2022
2:30 PM
Advanced Sustainability 
Main Stage (East Hall)
Collaboration Green: How Can the World’s Biggest Corporations Build Biology into Their Futures?
Moderated by:
Imagine what could be achieved if leaders from the cooperate world sat down to brainstorm with some of biology’s most innovative startups? Well, now you don’t have to imagine – you can be there in person! How can we build biology into the roadmaps of global corporations? What do startups need to know to work with big partners? What kind of leadership is needed at the executive level to foster sustainable, bio-based pipelines and products? Join us for this special roundtable discussion as we race to remake our world with biology.
Speakers
Day 2
1/26/2022
4:00 PM
Main Stage (East Hall)
Title Coming Soon
Moderated by:
Description Coming Soon
Speakers
Day 2
1/26/2022
4:20 PM
Food of the Future
Main Stage (East Hall)
Food Culture and Cultured Meat: is the world ready for lab-to-table?
Moderated by:
From lab-grown lab to mushroom-derived bacon, science is making tremendous strides to make foods dramatically more nutritious and sustainably produced. In some countries, eater are increasingly embracing meat alternatives, driven by health and environmental concerns. At the same time, scientists are closer and closer to solve the ‘scaling’ challenge of lab-grown or cultured meat. In the age where farm-to-table dominates food culture, are consumers ready for protein grown in a lab? What can we learn from how diverse cultural relationships with meat, how these have evolved in the past, and where tastes are going next? What other global trends in society can help us see where public appetite is heading? What role will chefs and food culture leaders play in driving or stemming adoption? Is novelty, taste and convenience more of a driver than sustainability when it comes to consumer choices?
Speakers
Day 2
1/26/2022
5:10 PM
Entrepreneur
Main Stage (East Hall)
Betting on Moonshots: Investing For the Long Game Takes Guts
Moderated by:
Bold predictions, long-term vision, and patience - these are hallmarks of successfully funding the future. But investing and supporting biotech solutions for our world's biggest sustainability and health challenges also take tenacity and self-confidence. Biology is taking off as more and more unicorns reach market. But what makes a bet worth taking? The demands of our quarterly financial system can be brutal and targets difficult to achieve; biology doesn't always cooperate with our engineering goals. So how can companies build for the long game--and convince top investors to come with them?
Speakers
Cathie Wood
Ark Invest
Day 2
1/26/2022
5:55 PM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Wrap Up
Moderated by:
Speakers
Frank Tate
SynBioBeta
Day 3
1/27/2022
10:00 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Welcome
Moderated by:
Speakers
Frank Tate
SynBioBeta
Day 3
1/27/2022
10:10 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Biotech "Moonshots": How Synthetic Biology Shapes the Trajectory of our Past and Future
Moderated by:
The metaphor of the "Biotech Moonshot" offers a historical yardstick for the future. We can use the milestones of our path in synthetic biology to predict our future work improving human experience and planetary health. Just for fun!
Speakers
Karl Handelsman
Codon Capital
Day 3
1/27/2022
10:15 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
SynBio: Where is the Industry Today and How do We Advance.
Moderated by:
Having mastered the reading of genomes, the next revolution in biology will come from writing them. Join this fireside chat to hear perspectives on where the SynBio industry is today and what can we learn from other successful industries as well as what can be the next important steps that can bring positive momentum across technology development, customer adoption, and future fundraising for the industry.
Speakers
Day 3
1/27/2022
10:35 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Designing the Backbone for Bio-Manufacturing
Moderated by:
If the 2010s were dominated by tech and software, we now see great examples of the biological approach and will in the coming years see how living organisms will re-engineer our economy. The question is, with all these creative new ways to create amazing things, why isn’t biology the dominant production method yet? Join us as we introduce EnginZyme's backbone of bio-manufacturing, the universal solution to utilise biology in an economic way.
Speakers
Day 3
1/27/2022
10:40 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Title Coming Soon
Moderated by:
Description Coming Soon
Speakers
Day 3
1/27/2022
11:00 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Bubbling to the Surface: Challenges Associated with Bringing Biosurfactants Into Mainstream Consumer Products
Moderated by:
The challenges in bringing natural ingredients such as surfactants and botanicals to market on a large scale will be discussed with glycolipids in Beauty products used as an example. Although cost and required scale are known challenges, material purity, specifications and business continuity plans also need to be considered. Equally challenging and critical to success in the market is maximizing the consumer perception of the ingredients. Ingredient naming, benefit claims and meaningful measurements must all come together to make the investment worthwhile and delight the consumer with the end result.
Speakers
Day 3
1/27/2022
11:05 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
NEED TITLE
Moderated by:
NEED DESCRIPTION
Speakers
Charles Dimmler
Checkerspot
Day 3
1/27/2022
11:25 AM
Entrepreneur
Main Stage (East Hall)
Patent Strategies for Protecting AI Inventions in Synthetic Biology
Moderated by:
When there is an AI component to a synthetic biology invention, the patent strategy has unique challenges. Patent eligibility becomes a bigger issue when AI is introduced into the invention, and it is important to really understand what you are protecting. This talk will discuss the challenges and solutions to protecting AI Inventions in Synthetic bio.
Speakers
Terri Shieh-Newton
Mintz
Day 3
1/27/2022
11:30 AM
Tools/Platforms
Main Stage (East Hall)
Accelerating Discovery and Development with the Berkeley Lights Platform
Moderated by:
Across a number of fields, ranging from pharmaceuticals to agriculture and industrial biotechnology, there remains a pressing and unmet need in the industry to provide comprehensive, multiparameter, functional analysis at the single cell level. Berkeley Lights has developed a high-throughput, live cell functional analysis platform that meets this need by performing rapid, quantitative, real-time measurements of cellular function. This talk will introduce the underlying technology and explain how we are using it to understand cell biology with an unprecedented level of precision and control.
Speakers
Troy Lionberger
Berkeley Lights
Day 3
1/27/2022
11:50 AM
All
Main Stage (East Hall)
Microbial Single-Cell Genomics to Massive Genome Database
Moderated by:
bitBiome is accelerating the world of synbio with our vast and highest-resolution microbial genome library. Using our proprietary single-cell genome sequencing technology bit-MAP®, we have been busy accumulating microbial genome data at the single-cell level. So far well over 70,000 microbial genomes (~70 million genes) were sequenced in the first two and a half years of our business, which will be expanded up to 1,000,000 genomes (1 billion genes) by the end of 2022. The bit-MAP® single-cell sequencing enables us to directly link individual taxonomic names with genes in their genomes, which was difficult with conventional metagenomic sequencing techniques. Plus, culture-free nature of our sequencing technology makes it possible to easily create a genomic database of difficult-to-cultivate microorganisms that are particularly common in environmental samples. By providing access to this database and building your own exclusive database, we will support the swift development of your business as a synthetic biology player.
Speakers