SynBio Coalition Urges Bipartisan Innovation Act Conferees to Include Key Provisions in USICA Bill
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, the Synthetic Biology Coalition urged lawmakers to include important provisions in the final version of the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) bill—such as the Endless Frontier Act, the Bioeconomy Research & Development Act, the Department of Commerce supply chain resilience provisions, and maintaining synthetic biology as a key technology focus area across policies.
In a letter sent to offices of the Conference Committee reconciling differences between USICA and the House’s America COMPETES Act, the Synthetic Biology Coalition argues:
“Our processes can help onshore key supply chains (e.g., advanced pharmaceutical ingredients), achieve sustainability objectives, and serve U.S. national security interests. In fact, the Department of Defense has stated that synthetic biology ‘research has already demonstrated the potential for this field to have major effects on commodity and specialty materials, sensing, human performance, medical, and biological and chemical weapons threats and defense.
In light of synthetic biology’s broad and national security-oriented applications, China is heavily subsidizing the industry and has named it a science and technology priority in Made in China 2025 and its current five-year plan. Thus, if we do not want to cede an advantage to a strategic competitor, the time to act is now.
We understand that Congress has narrowed its focus from a broader Bipartisan Innovation Act to provisions that are both urgent and have broad bipartisan support. The Endless Frontiers Act, the Bioeconomy Research & Development Act, and supply chain resilience provisions being worked on by conferees clearly qualify, and we urge you to move forward on these provisions before the end of this session of Congress.”
Click here to read the full letter
The Synthetic Biology Coalition is a group of leading U.S. companies and universities that are creating new bio-manufacturing processes to produce medicines, foods, fuels, and industrial supply chain materials.
The Coalition was founded in April 2021 by three of America’s leading synthetic biology companies who make up the steering committee:
· Antheia (Menlo Park, CA) is unlocking the medicinal power of nature. Its synthetic biology platform surpasses the limits of conventional drug discovery and manufacturing through a novel approach to whole-cell engineering — reconstructing complex molecules in yeast to bring to market next-generation plant-inspired medicines. Antheia’s team of scientists and technologists is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. For more information, visit www.antheia.bio.
· Genomatica (San Diego, CA) is remaking everyday products and materials with more sustainable, high-performance ingredients, made from renewable sources like plants rather than fossil fuels. Genomatica's first commercial products and partnerships with leading industrial firms and brands are already having high impact in plastics and cosmetics, with more coming in apparel, homecare, auto parts and more. Genomatica's Innovation Center is in San Diego, California. For more information, visit www.genomatica.com.
· Ginkgo Bioworks (Boston, MA) is building a platform to enable customers to program cells as easily as we can program computers. The company's platform is enabling biotechnology applications across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals. Ginkgo has also actively supported a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including K-12 pooled testing, vaccine manufacturing optimization and therapeutics discovery. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com.
About the SynBio Coalition Members:
· Checkerspot (Alameda, CA & Salt Lake City, UT) designs performance materials and ingredients at a molecular level. Checkerspot’s vertically integrated WING™ Platform optimizes microalgae to biomanufacture unique oils that are turned into new materials that demonstrate improved performance properties in targeted hardgoods, textiles, personal care, and food applications and products. Checkerspot's first commercialized materials are next generation polyurethanes and textile finishes designed to improve the performance of consumer products. The company is currently commercializing performance composites engineered into skis and sold through its brand WNDR® Alpine, as well as algal oil formulated into miDori® BioWick and sold in partnership with Beyond Surface Technologies. Checkerspot's mission is to expand the palette of molecular building blocks for high performance and sustainable materials for better products. For more information, visit https://checkerspot.com/
· Geltor (San Leandro, CA) is the company igniting what’s possible through biodesign, with the most advanced protein ingredients for beauty and personal care, food and nutrition, and beyond. Through its ingredient technologies, Geltor offers best-in-class innovation and otherwise impossible-to-source bioactives that are uniquely able to respond to changing customer needs sustainably, with unprecedented speed and precision. Geltor and its growing portfolio of biodesigned hero ingredients have been recognized for their excellence and innovation by industry leaders including CEW, Personal Care Products Council, Society of Cosmetic Chemists, and ICMAD Indie Beauty Innovators Awards. For more information, visit www.geltor.com.
· SaponiQx (Lexington, MA) plans to be a global, integrated immune-education medicine company which is planning to develop safe and effective immunomodulators to protect the world's population from health threats. Its pipeline is led by the best-in-class QS21 Stimulon™ adjuvant already used in GSK's Shingrix™ vaccine and is expected to include a wide-ranging portfolio of saponin-based adjuvants and vaccines, including AutoSynVax™, PhosphoSynVax™, and Prophage™. For more information, visit https://saponiqx.com/.
· Swiftscale Biologics (San Francisco, CA) provides cell-free protein synthesis for fast expression, high-throughput synthesis, and complex protein production. Swiftscale Biologics uses an innovative development and manufacturing platform that can significantly accelerate the normal timelines for translation of biologics. We rapidly transform scientific discoveries into protein products ready for human clinical trials.
· Solugen (Houston, TX) was founded in 2016 by Gaurab Chakrabarti, M.D., Ph.D., and Sean Hunt, Ph.D., Solugen is a specialty chemicals manufacturer and world’s first and only producer of bio-based chemical peroxide solutions that applies green chemistry principles to re-design the production of a variety of ingredients. Solugen's mission is to help the fight against climate change by creating cleaner, greener, and safer chemical processes that reduce reliance on non-renewable resources and energy-intensive manufacturing, without sacrificing safety and efficacy. For more information, visit https://www.solugen.com/.
· Northeastern University (Boston, MA) is home to a dynamic collection of labs focused on collaborations with academic researchers and various synthetic biology industries. Supported by several faculty working in this space, Northeastern University is leading innovative analysis and production in numerous fields of synthetic biology to support health care, therapeutics, plant-derived pharmaceuticals and cell engineering.
· Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) is home to the Center for Synthetic Biology, a research lab that draws from the tools and concepts of physics, engineering, and computer science to explore four unique themes: cell-free systems, mammalian systems, enabling technologies, and ethics and societal impact. For more information, visit https://syntheticbiology.northwestern.edu/.
· Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The Synthetic Biology Group develops and applies principles and techniques for biosystems design in non-model organisms, biofuels crops, and associated biosystems to solve renewable energy and environmental challenges. The group focuses on engineering plants, bacteria, and fungi for a variety of applications. For more information, visit https://www.ornl.gov/group/synthetic-biology.
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