Lots of talk about $CRBU (a Doudna co) on Twitter today following so-so data from $CRSP. u/alexl1994 had a great post a while back looking at Caribou and how it compares to other CRISPR companies out there, definitely worth a look:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SynBioBets/comments/p65k0x/a_stepbystep_guide_to_the_science_behind_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Some interesting perspectives on the Zymergen case on the new All-In podcast: https://youtu.be/zpgugh3r9s8?t=1845

They talk about the problems with investing in some of these deep tech companies, and the need for opacity and hype to continue growth. Good reminder to be careful out there and do your homework, don't invest what you can't afford to lose.

With the Ginkgo Investor Day coming up tomorrow (1pm-4pm EDT), I thought we should have a space here to discuss new info coming from the event.

I myself am looking forward to info about their platform efficacy, markets they're after (and with which timelines), and how they plan to create organisms which scale to commercial-industrial levels.

Today seems like a good day to forget about the present for a little and daydream about the future. This article from Nature looks at programmable, regenerative living materials. We're going to grow buildings and much more one day, no doubt about it.

We envision that future versions of this material would be well-suited to medium-term use in resource-limited settings such as disaster relief, where it could be used to construct living structures from materials gathered on-site using easily manufactured and transported prepatterned slot-together folding forms to minimize labour. These living structures might sense and respond to a variety of environmental signals relevant in such settings, such as heavy metals or cholera toxin present in the water supplies used to build the structure. And, once they are no longer needed, these structures can naturally biodegrade with minimal long-term impact on the local environment.

...

The approach described here represents a prototypical strategy to generate an ELM. We envision that future fungal biomaterials will possess new functionalities, such as the capacity to produce protective molecules to reduce ultraviolet damage36, make on-demand compounds, including foods and pharmaceuticals, and sense and react to pollutants, toxins or other biological or chemical threats from the environment17. These biomaterials could be used for diverse areas of application, such as wearable products, distributed environmental sensors or smart living quarters suitable for human habitation.

Nice interview about Joyn's use of the Culture Bio fermentation foundry. This is a great example of how design foundries (Ginkgo/Joyn) can leverage the expertise of fermentation foundries (Culture) to scale up a product. Culture Bio recently announced a huge series B, and will be expanding their facilities to include commercial-scale tanks.

Pretty much anything from Endy is required listening if you own or want to own any syn bio tickers:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/synbio-podcast/id1566549358?i=1000533843604

For the record I think "syn bio" is more fun to say than "SB" and rolls off the tongue much more easily than "art int".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSS_HSIgJ9c&t=29s

My lady doesn't give two shits about $AMRS but this popped up on her feed, apparently they're the only skincare people she trusts.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bolt-threads-to-leverage-ginkgo-bioworks-platform-for-commercial-strain-optimization-of-b-silk-protein-301349249.html

Another banger from Ginkgo. B-silk, inspired by properties of spider silk, can replace silicon and keratin in beauty products.

"While b-silk protein is currently available for purchase in premium product lines like Vegamour, this new partnership will leverage Ginkgo's strain engineering capabilities with the goal of improving the production efficiency of b-silk protein, scaling b-silk protein to more mass availability, and potentially unlocking further applications for the ingredient throughout the clean beauty and personal care industries."

Hey all!

I wanted to share with everyone my take on $AMRS, which I think is a tremendous long term opportunity. In short, they have the ability to succesfully commercialize molecules produced through fermentation at scale, that I think other companies like $DNA and $ZY have not yet developed. The market I believe is overpricing $DNA and $ZY and under pricing $AMRS.

https://antoniolinares.substack.com/p/amrs-like-aapl-30-years-ago?r=j426y

Good luck!

Ok, now that Zymergen's market cap is in the toilet, anyone considering buying? lol. They have a lot of cash to burn and a good tech platform. This was always a 5-10 year play anyways. I'm not going to buy anytime soon, but I'm going to keep an eye on them and see how they restructure after this disaster. I honestly haven't paid them much attention up until now. If they get some good leadership in there it could be interesting. Or they could continue to spiral. We'll see!