Scaling Up Chip-based Technology Production for DNA Synthesis Platform
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Evonetix, a synthetic biology company developing a desktop platform for scalable, high-fidelity and rapid gene synthesis, has announced it has partnered with imec, a research and innovation hub active in the fields of nanoelectronics and digital technologies, to increase production of Evonetix’s proprietary microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based silicon chips, enabling the platform to be manufactured at a commercial scale. The novel silicon chip is a key component of Evonetix’s desktop DNA platform which, once fully developed, aims to facilitate and enable the rapidly growing field of synthetic biology.
Evonetix’s technology utilizes a silicon chip, made by MEMS processing, that controls the synthesis of DNA at many thousands of independently controlled reaction sites or “pixels” on the chip surface in a highly parallel fashion. Following synthesis, strands are assembled on-chip into double-stranded DNA in a process that identifies and removes errors, enabling accuracy, scale and speed.
Under the terms of the collaboration, imec will work with Evonetix to scale up manufacturing of the MEMS technology on 8-inch silicon wafers, enabling Evonetix to supply customers in volume. imec is able to leverage its experience in manufacturing silicon for life sciences applications to transfer the novel Evonetix process to their foundries and to manage further expansion in volume.
