in June 2021. This machine can print DNA oligos up to 60 nucleotides long overnight, with no hands-on intervention. What is more, the platform is powered by enzymes that can put together DNA molecules from genetic “inks”— A, T, C, and G letters – in a water-based solution, avoiding the need for potentially hazardous solvents.
“We worked closely with the team led by Marc Delarue at CNRS in Paris that discovered the 3-D structure of the TdT enzyme,” recalls Ybert. The enzymatic synthesis technology, developed in collaboration with the scientists at the French National Centre for Scientific Research , turned out to be a crucial component of the company’s desktop platform, as it makes DNA synthesis much more predictable:
This is why the SYNTAX platform does not require any additional training and takes less than 15 minutes to set up. Once customers have the printer and the DNA kits from DNA Script, they choose the DNA sequences they want, upload those into the system, and then press run. A few hours later, depending on the length of the sequence, the DNA is ready to use.
With a closed system like SYNTAX, it is a lot easier to control how the platform is being used and what is synthesized on it than the current systems that use phosphoramidite chemistry: “This is a much-needed upgrade compared to what exists today. Nobody is really looking at who is using the [phosphoramidite] oligo synthesizers.