GenScript Sponsors and Presents Novel Technologies at 2012 Cold Spring Harbor Asia Synthetic Biology Symposium

PR51693

PISCATAWAY, N.J., Dec. 20, 2012 /PRN=KYODO JBN/ --

GenScript recently sponsored the Cold Spring Harbor Asia Synthetic Biology

Symposium held in Suzhou, China, from Nov. 26 to Nov. 30. This is the second

consecutive year that GenScript sponsored the symposium in which scientists

from all over the world convened to exchange the latest and most innovative

synthetic biology research results. Synthetic biology entails building novel

genetic circuits to re-program cells, and has been touted as having great

potential in many industrial applications including biofuel, drug, and vaccine

production.  

As a gene synthesis expert, GenScript presented technical breakthroughs in

synthesizing long (＞ 10 kb), complex genes (having high GC content, highly

repetitive sequences, complex secondary structures or unstable structural

elements), one of the most challenging tasks in synthetic biology research.

GenScript recently demonstrated proficiency in long, complex gene synthesis by

synthesizing 17 pre-designed chunk fragments (average size: 10 kb each) of

yeast chromosome VI, totaling 170 kb. The synthesis was part of the Johns

Hopkins University Synthetic Yeast Genome Project, Sc2.0, which aims to build

the first functional synthetic eukaryotic genome, totaling 16 Mb. GenScript

delivered the chunk fragments to JHU within a short time, and successfully

incorporated several pre-designed DNA elements into the sequence such as

telomeric repeats and LoxP sites, which are crucial for gene function studies

and subsequent genome manipulation. GenScript is the only purely commercial

entity to participate in Sc2.0 thus far.

The symposium is just one of the synthetic biology advancement efforts that

GenScript supports. GenScript is a long-time sponsor of iGEM, having supported

over 20 teams in the collegiate competition. It is also a founding member of

the International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC), which seeks to prevent

terrorist abuse of synthetic biology technologies. GenScript believes its

support of these efforts along with the continued enhancement of its gene

synthesis technologies will increase production speed and decrease production

price for long, complex genes. Such technological advancements will allow

researchers to realize the full potential of synthetic biology faster.

About GenScript

Founded in 2002, GenScript is the world's largest gene synthesis supplier, and

a leading biology CRO offering customized services to aid biological research,

and drug discovery/development. GenScript is headquartered in Piscataway, NJ,

with subsidiaries in Europe, Japan, and China.

SOURCE  GenScript USA Inc.