Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc (NYSE: DNA) has announced partnering with Persephone Biosciences Inc to develop a Bacteroides-based therapy. Bacteroides are a genus of bacteria most abundant as the normal flora of animals.
Bacteroides are easier to engineer genetically
Bacteroides have the highest population in the gut. Experts believe they form a good choice for long-term and stable microbial medicine delivery. Bacteroides stand out from other gastrointestinal microbes as they are the best candidates to engineer genetically.
Persephone plans to engineer the microbes and use them therapeutically. Its collaboration with Ginkgo will enable it to design tools that will do a lot for the fast engineering of Bacteroides, thus, leveraging their benefits.
The CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo, Jason Kelly, states that the company supports Persephone as it works on groundbreaking projects in its beginning stages. Kelly adds that Gingko is deeply invested in microbial medicines and thus is happy to work on its capability of anaerobic engineering as it works with Persephone.
Ginkgo is partnering with FREDsense Technologies Corp
Ginkgo has also announced that it is collaborating with FREDsense Technologies Corp to produce biosensors that will ensure the detection and monitoring of water quality. The company hopes to build four different biosensors to show compatibility with FREDsense’s hardware.
This move comes after experts have shown concern about water quality. With the issue now becoming a public health and environmental concern, there has been a growing need for water testing and monitoring systems.
Testing for water quality is usually a long process as experts often need to collect samples and send them off to labs for testing. For this reason, getting reports could take too long. FREDsense works to minimise the wait time by building portable systems that test water at its source. The quick results enable experts to immediately begin water treatment, thus reducing further harm to people and the environment.
According to FREDsense’s CEO, David Lloyd, water is a vital source for humanity; thus, it is essential to ensure that it is safe for use. For this reason, having a test that could analyse water in real-time could allow us to take action to remove any contaminants quickly without further harming the population.
