Visiting the Gen9 Laboratories

10 responses to “Visiting the Gen9 Laboratories”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Jul 23, 2012 at 2:33 am

   The Gene Printer
   

   Description from the Boston Globe:

   "Inside its Kendall Square lab, engineers are putting the finishing touches on what the company has dubbed the “gene printer.” (It’s built on a metal-topped workbench about the size of your desk.) In much the same way the printer head on your inkjet printer moves back and forth across a piece of paper, the gene printer has a moving head that holds a small eyedropper capable of sucking up and squirting fluid. It works in concert with an array of flat, black devices called microarrays that are the shape of a ­microscope slide.

   Those microarrays have a network of tiny channels on their surface that turn oligonucleotides — short scraps of nucleic acids — into genes. (Each device can hold 12,000 different oligos.) “We’re mixing tens of thousands of oligos multiple times to grow them,” says Munnelly. Once the genes are done, the eyedropper puts them into the plastic tray, ready to be shipped to the customer in that styrofoam cooler. It’s a manufacturing process that allows Gen9 to make many different kinds of genes simultaneously."

   The effect? I updated the Carlson Curve with the latest estimates from some startups we know:
   
   front door
   

   Something old and something new… in the shadow of Novartis
   

   I also notice a blue gene motif in the DNA icons above…

   Reply
2. 

   scleroplex

   Jul 23, 2012 at 3:19 am

   i read the article in today’s Boston Globe about these folks.
   and you were here 🙂

   Reply
3. 

   solerena

   Jul 23, 2012 at 5:24 am

   Interesting…what will you do with 500 genes of your dreams?

   Reply
4. 

   seatonsnet

   Jul 23, 2012 at 4:58 pm

   This is the only forum I attend with a majority of science majors, engineers and folks generally steeped in geekdom, so I would like to ask an off thread question: does anybody here, beginning with Steve, have any thoughts about Holmes, the Denver shooter?

   I’m beginning to get interested in his story, but I don’t have the background necessary to get a handle on it. He was a brilliant, scholarship student, with no history of mental illness (a bit of a loner, which is normal in a person of high intelligence) no problems of concentration, going for his doctorate in neuroscience… suddenly he is acting out the standard, American as apple pie, amok: collecting guns and ammunition and shooting up an apparently random crowd of innocents… With his hair dyed red like a clown, after booby trapping his apartment. A budding neuroscientist?

   I get the feeling there is a story here worthy of Truman Capote… any thoughts?

   Reply
5. 

   jurvetson

   Jul 23, 2012 at 5:09 pm

   nope.

   What would I do with 500 genes? I’d probably try to tweak the E.Coliroid biofilms to take pretty pictures. =)

   The interesting stuff will probably come from the international team of teenagers who play with gene blocks like they were Legos…

   The Gen9 approach also helps groups like Baker’s Lab design novel molecules with therapeutic effect, such as the recent one that targets a very specific invariant portion of the H1N1 virus.

   And I like the markets for specialty chemicals and omega-3 rich food.

   When we write the genetic code of life like a computer program, and synthesize the DNA with no animals involved, we have a capability to explore research avenues more quickly than the clumsy physical cut-n-paste of biotech 1.0

   In the near term, the Gen9 tools enable a capability for high-throughput experimentation. Instead of slowly splicing physical genes, scientists will create billions of genetically novel microbes per day. Most of those tests will be sweeps of known natural variations on a theme – like variations on an enzyme.

   Over the weekend, I read a nice summary of various new approaches in New Scientist… and Venter’s latest talk on EDGE.org: THE BIOLOGICAL-DIGITAL CONVERTER —OR—BIOLOGY AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT

   Reply
6. 

   seatonsnet

   Jul 23, 2012 at 5:18 pm

   You have to be away from America for awhile to fully realize what a stone-crazy place it is.

   Reply
7. 

   jurvetson

   Jul 23, 2012 at 8:09 pm

   Pictures using E.Coli biofilms

   

   The resolution is pretty good; an "E.coliroid" of the same size as your Canon DSLR would capture 134 megapixels.

   But that was seven years ago. Last year, the teens in Cambridge modified the E.Coli to express squid proteins that form beautiful Bragg reflectors.

   

   Their inspiration: (IGEM page): "Manipulation of reflectance allows squids to communicate through polarised light whilst altering the refractive index of their skin to match that of the water column allows cephalopods to hide from their predators, a living invisibility cloak."

   Reply
8. 

   solerena

   Jul 23, 2012 at 8:17 pm

   So it would be used to capture micro worlds, I assume…very cool!!

   Reply
9. 

   solerena

   Jul 23, 2012 at 8:39 pm

   Imagine if some simple device like your cell phone would have this capability…to be a microscope with this type of camera and a telescope…or this could be a part of your own non biological body extension…how cool would it be…and it is within our reach now…we are living a dream already…

   Reply
10. 

    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    Jul 23, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    Fascinating Merci Steve.

    Visualizing about gorillas,here is something cool :
    Gorillas filmed performing amazing feat of intellectual ability
    phys.org/news/2012-07-gorillas-amazing-feat-intellectual-…

    Animals hacking humans tools… awesome !

    Reply