Customizable, anaerobic-enabled system aims to accelerate discovery and development of sustainable biofuels at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s GLBRC

BOSTON, Jan. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, today announced that Ginkgo Automation will design and deploy a flexible, anaerobic-enabled laboratory automation system for the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), a U.S. Department of Energy-funded Bioenergy Research Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This new system is designed to support the diverse needs of multiple investigators and research teams simultaneously, enabling GLBRC scientists to more efficiently discover and optimize synthesis of biofuels and bioproducts from plant biomass.

GLBRC’s mission involves numerous investigators tackling a variety of scientific challenges, requiring flexible and robust research infrastructure. The anaerobic-capable automation system Ginkgo Automation will develop is designed to enable GLBRC scientists to run multiple, diverse experiments at once, across both aerotolerant and anaerobic conditions, while increasing “walkaway” time—allowing investigators to spend more time interpreting data and planning the next generation of experiments rather than tending to routine laboratory tasks. By consolidating diverse experimental needs into a single, flexible system, Ginkgo Automation expects to help GLBRC advance its mission of enabling cost-effective, sustainable biofuel production at scale.

Ginkgo Automation’s capabilities are built on years of internal expertise honed at Ginkgo Bioworks and Zymergen, encompassing hardware design, software integration, and applications development. Ginkgo Automation brings significant prior experience in automating workflows for anaerobic organisms, a key requirement for many of GLBRC’s research programs. The result is a customizable, future-forward system that can be easily adapted to meet emerging research needs and support more complex workflows as GLBRC continues to pioneer innovations in the bioenergy space.

In addition to providing advanced automation hardware and software, Ginkgo Automation’s deployment at GLBRC will include access to Catalyst Flow, a fully remote, active error resolution and troubleshooting support service. Catalyst Flow’s proactive monitoring is expected to enable Ginkgo’s scientists and engineers to identify and resolve approximately 80-90% of system errors remotely, without the need for user-initiated tickets. Remote recovery is especially critical when working within an anaerobic chamber, because of how disruptive environmental breaches are to research throughput. This helps enable extended walkaway time, improved instrument uptime, and minimized interruptions to research activities, allowing investigators at GLBRC to focus on innovation rather than maintenance.

“This project brings us one step closer to transforming the way researchers leverage laboratory automation,” said Will Serber, Head of Ginkgo Automation. “With the design of this new, automated, anaerobic-enabled system, we’re not just pushing boundaries—we’re reimagining what’s possible in the lab. By giving GLBRC investigators the ability to run flexible, multi-user, lab-directed evolution workflows in a highly automated manner, we expect this system to accelerate scientific progress. Ultimately, it’s about empowering researchers to achieve more with less effort and drive real-world impact in biofuels and bioproducts development.”

“We’re excited to incorporate this advanced automation system into our workflows,” said Michael Botts, Laboratory Automation Coordinator at GLBRC. “Our researchers tackle a wide range of scientific challenges, from optimizing microbial conversion processes to exploring new feedstocks. Having a single, flexible platform that can manage both anaerobic and aerobic conditions—and can run multiple experiments simultaneously—will be a game-changer. It frees our scientists to focus on innovation and analysis, rather than routine lab tasks, ultimately helping us advance our mission more efficiently.”

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About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo Biosecurity is building and deploying the next-generation infrastructure and technologies that global leaders need to predict, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and ginkgobiosecurity.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo and @Ginkgo_Biosec), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.

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Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of the partnership and Ginkgo’s cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “can,” “project,” “potential,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) volatility in the price of Ginkgo’s securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo’s business, (ii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, (iii) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (iv) the uncertainty regarding the demand for passive monitoring programs and biosecurity services, (v) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vi) the outcome of any pending or potential legal proceedings against Ginkgo, (vii) our ability to realize the expected benefits from and the success of our Foundry platform programs, (viii) our ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses, data packages or other deliverables, and (ix) the product development or commercialization success of our customers. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the “Risk Factors” section of Ginkgo’s annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 29, 2024, Ginkgo’s most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

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SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks