Biotechnology company Ginkgo is building four university laboratories for remote experiments, while the U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded $380 млн to 20 teams developing a network of such facilities
Biotechnology company Ginkgo is building four university laboratories for remote experiments, while the U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded $380 млн to 20 teams developing a network of such facilities
On 5 August, the company announced new projects for the California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, and Northwestern University. Three are part of a four-year federal program, and Astera Institute has pledged up to $20 млн in additional funding.
AI can propose a biological hypothesis, but testing it requires a physical experiment involving a cell culture, a bioreactor, or a microscope. In its 5 August announcement, Ginkgo described four new university projects that will allow researchers to run such experiments remotely.
In the spring, Ginkgo had already launched Cloud Lab, a service that allows researchers to order experiments based on standard protocols and run them remotely. The company is now building laboratories at Caltech, MIT, the University of Maryland, and Northwestern. Three of the projects are part of a federal program to establish laboratories where processes can be started remotely. NSF is funding 20 teams for four years. Research groups will be able to specify sequences of operations, run automated equipment, and receive data that can guide the next experiment.
The Maryland project shows how such a facility will work. CRAB Lab received $17,3 млн for automated biomanufacturing, which uses cell cultures and automated equipment to produce biological products. In the project announcement, laboratory director William Bentley describes the central problem as understanding “how the cell culture and the entire process behave.”
The laboratory will combine molecular measurements with readings from electronic sensors. Models will search these data for combinations of signals associated with product quality and yield. Researchers will then use those patterns to select the next process setting for the automated system to test. Ginkgo plans to provide mobile robotic modules and automation software for this work. A digital twin, which is a computer model of the process, will allow researchers to test the sequence of operations virtually before running it in the laboratory.
This cycle can be repeated. The researcher poses a question, the automated system performs the experiment, and the resulting measurements help determine what to test next.