Ginkgo, Swissaustral to design microbes for enzymes

02 Aug '17

2 min read

Courtesy: Swissaustral

Ginkgo Bioworks, the organism company, and Swissaustral, leader in enzymatic products and processes, have joined hands to design strains of microbes that produce industrial enzymes at scale. These enzymes will be used as safe, low-energy replacement for traditional chemical processes in industries such as pharmaceuticals, textiles, foods and household goods.

Swissaustral brings deep expertise in identifying enzymes from microbes that live in extreme environments, such as high or low temperatures, pH levels and salt concentrations, also called extremophilic enzymes, which are traditionally difficult to work with at industrial scale. Ginkgo's platform for automated organism engineering enables rapid design of industrial microbes that effectively produce enzymes. In partnership with Swissaustral, Ginkgo's organism engineers will use its in-house foundries to improve the production of extremophilic enzymes for industrial applications.

"Teaming up with Ginkgo Bioworks enables us to more rapidly reach industrial markets with our enzymes," said Felipe Sarmiento, Swissaustral's business innovation director for North America. "Ginkgo's expansive platform technology and expertise are the missing pieces needed to unlock the potential of our extremophilic enzymes for improving industrial processes."

Enzymes – the biological machines that power living cells – can be used to perform high temperature synthesis of pharmaceuticals or active ingredients, alkaline fibre modifications and low-temperature, energy-saving break down of protein or fat stains, among other everyday applications. For example, one of Swissaustral's enzymes, Catalase, breaks down hydrogen peroxide for textiles wastewater bio-remediation, food preservation, and personal care applications. Swissaustral's extremophilic Catalase functions at a wide range of temperatures and pHs, making it an ideal and reliable enzyme across many applications.

"Swissaustral is an exciting new partner for us as we expand into industrial enzymes. This partnership underscores the breadth of applications possible with Ginkgo's platform technology," said Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder at Ginkgo Bioworks. "Swissaustral's enzymes are robust, versatile and create unique value in the marketplace – we're thrilled to work together." (SV)

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