In contrast to conventional methods, Evonetix uses thermal control which offers greater accuracy and selectivity
Evonetix has been granted a patent in Europe for its thermal control technology for DNA synthesis, as well as the design and manufacture of its silicon chips.
The patent is a key step in the company’s strategy involving the development of a bench-top DNA synthesis platform, to change how DNA is accessed, made and used.
The company’s novel approach to parallel DNA synthesis is underpinned by precise and independent control of temperature at thousands of individual synthesis sites across the surface of a silicon chip.
In contrast to conventional approaches, which use acid deprotection to control the synthesis cycle, Evonetix uses thermal control with semiconductor-based arrays. This offers greater accuracy and selectivity to deprotect sequences at the correct point, allowing the addition of the next nucleotide, while removing mismatching sequences.
Matthew Hayes, chief technology officer at Evonetix, commented: “There is currently an unmet need in the synthetic biology industry for long, accurate, DNA sequences. The ability to remove errors during assembly allows researchers to achieve longer strands of DNA and run applications such as gene synthesis, CRISPR screening and protein engineering.”
“Our technology will give researchers the capabilities of service centres in their own lab, accelerating the advancement of synthetic biology and opening new possibilities in this exciting market,” he added.
Evonetix is a synthetic biology company, aiming to reimagine biology by developing a radically different approach to gene synthesis through a highly parallel desktop platform, synthesising DNA at an unprecedented accuracy and scale.
The platform will place DNA synthesis in the hands of every researcher and could change how DNA is utilised. The new paradigm in gene synthesis will facilitate and enable the rapidly growing field of synthetic biology.
