The French Startup DNA Script produces synthetic DNA thanks to modified enzymes. Its co-founder, Thomas Ybert, explains how this invention will revolutionize health and biotechnology.
Founded by three partners, Thomas Ybert, Sylvain Gabriel and Xavier Gordon, the DNA Script startup, based in Paris, was launched in 2014. In strong growth, it has already raised 27 million euros from public and private investors (Illumina Ventures, Merck Ventures, Invest ID, BPI France, European Commission ...). This French nugget targets the synthetic DNA market, estimated at 1.5 billion dollars worldwide and growing by 10% per year. On November 9, she opened a subsidiary in the United States and recruited three new people including a former director of the Roche laboratory to accelerate growth.
What is your start-up?
We make synthetic DNA through natural enzymes that we have genetically tamed to produce custom sequences. We have created a kind of "molecular 3D printer", where each researcher can develop a personalized DNA sequence thanks to the cartridges containing the enzymes.What is the advantage over existing technologies?
Today, DNA is made by chemical synthesis, a 40-year-old method! This requires solvents that are harmful to the environment and that can damage the DNA. It is also a slow method, where you have to assemble the sequence, nucleotide by nucleotide. It can take several weeks. Then you have to order the DNA, which is sent by mail, again, it takes a few more weeks. Thanks to our printer and our software, no need to be a chemist! You produce the DNA you need in your lab in a matter of hours.What will this DNA be used for?
Our first client will be the world of academic or industrial research: scientists use DNA every day for their projects. It's a bit like the "computer code" they use to develop new products. I, myself, did a lot of DNA handling when I worked at Total to develop biofuels for aircraft. The applications are mainly in the field of health (new drugs, personalized therapies ...), agri-food (for example, to improve the nutritional qualities of a food), or the industry (cosmetics, textile .. .), to make innovative materials. In the longer term, DNA could be used to store data and then replace the silicon chips.Who are your competitors?
Other start-ups are also working on enzymatic synthesis DNA, but since we were among the pioneers in 2014, we have gained a good head start. Our enzymes are thus much more efficient. Today, we are able to produce a 150-nucleotide sequence with an efficiency rate of 99.5% per addition cycle, compared with 30 for our competitors, as far as I can see ... May, we were only 50, which means we have tripled in just four months! We are now at the same level as conventional chemical synthesis and we target fragments of 1,000 nucleotides in one day.When will you launch your product?
We are still in the development phase, but the method should be validated next year for a commercial launch in about two years. We want to build real industrial production capacity and compete with industry giants like IDT or Eurofins Scientific.The technology of the future according to you?
The blockchain! Today, personal data is the jungle. The blockchain could come to channel all that and better manage how our information is stored and exploited.Another start-up that you admire or would have liked to create?
SQZ Biotech, which has developed a new process for injecting genetic material into a cell. This perfectly complements our technology for gene therapies: we first make the desired DNA and then transfer it to the cell.Portrait DNA Script
- Domain: biotechnologies
- Creation: 2014
- Founders: Sylvain Gabriel, Xavier Gordon, and Thomas Ybert
- Amount of fundraising: 27M USD
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