Twist Bioscience

Twist Bioscience was founded in 2013 by Emily Leproust to commercialize a high-throughput semiconductor-based DNA synthesis technology. The company supplies DNA for research and commercial applications of genetic engineering, and is developing additional markets for applications including digital data storage and DNA origami-based biomaterials and nanostructures.

Twist Bioscience can achieve 1,000x improvements in DNA production density by scaling down from the traditional 96-well plate to tiny micro-wells and channels on a silicon chip of the same area. Throughput is greatly increased because semiconductor-based technology allows the chemical reactions necessary for DNA synthesis to be scaled down by a factor of 1,000,000. Twist Bioscience is able to produce 9,600 genes on a single silicon chip using their technology; compared to 1 gene being produced on the same amount of space using traditional DNA synthesis technologies.

In the video below, CEO of Twist Bioscience Emily Leproust, explains the innovations in DNA synthesis technology.

Twist Bioscience CEO Emily Leproust discusses DNA Synthesis technology

Applications of Synthetic DNA

Twist Bioscience is providing DNA synthesis to Inovio Pharmaceuticals for its research developing a vaccine against the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, renamed SARS-CoV-2, with the disease called COVID-19 (coronavirus disease).

Products and services

Twist Bioscience offers a variety of DNA synthesis products and services that are summarized below.

Clonal genes​

Next generation sequencing (NGS) verified gene clones with no type II S restriction sequences and custom vector onboarding with verification. There is currently a lower limit of 10+ genes (no upper limit ) to place an order that will be ready within 20 business days.

Combinatorial libraries

Using ​combinatorial libraries for focused mutagenesis offers more flexibility and better representation than degenerate approaches. Specific codons may be excluded, codon ratio can be controlled, and all libraries are NGS verified.

DNA digital data storage

DNA is being developed as a storage medium for digital data. Twist Bioscience is working with Microsoft and the University of Washington to improve data storage using DNA, and have published research demonstrating high-fidelity storage and random-access retrieval of over 200 MB of data, including an OK Go music video. As the technology matures, DNA could offer a high-density, low-energy, long-term, and secure digital data storage solution. Twist Bioscience explains their work on DNA data storage in their white paper.

Gene fragments​

Gene fragments are non-clonal, and can be used for several downstream cloning methods for assembly into bigger genes or pathways. The error rate on gene fragment production is approximately 1:3000 base pairs.

Oligo pools​

Oligo pools are made to be diverse collections of oligonucleotides and can be used for applications such as creation of CRISPR sgRNA libraries high-throughput reporter essays. Oligo pools are made to be highly uniform and accurate for maximal oligo representation and have an error rate of approximately 1:1000 nucleotides (nt).

Site saturation libraries​

Site saturation libraries are precise and diverse when compared to traditional directed mutagenesis techniques. Each saturation library is verified using NGS technology. They come free from unwanted codons and can be made to have specific codon ratios.

Twist human core exome kit​

The Twist human core exome kit is a DNA probe target enrichment kit. It comes with modular high performance DNA probes designed to uniformly and accurately capture sequence depth. The modular kit is simple to integrate into existing lab protocols due to its has many customization options.

Alternatives and lawsuits

The turnaround time for orders is still relatively long compared to other lab-based methods, especially for smaller amounts of DNA. Therefore, in certain instances it is more reasonable for researchers and companies to utilize traditional cloning methods depending on the genes needed for experiments. Slow turnaround time for smaller orders is the primary reason Ginkgo Bioworks acquired Gen9, which brought that function in-house.

In 2016 Agilent filed a lawsuit against Twist Bioscience alleging Emily Leproust, a former Agilent employee, stole trade secrets developed by the company to start the DNA synthesis startup.

Funding

Government grants/awards

On May 27th, 2014 Twist Bioscience received $5.1 million dollars in funding from the Defense Advanced Research projects Agency (DARPA). The contract was awarded to Twist Bioscience under DARPA's Living Foundries program.

Series A

On Feb 10 2014, Twist Bioscience received $9,100,000 in series A funding from Asset Management Ventures (AMV).

Series B

On May 27 2014, Twist Bioscience completed a $26,000,000 series B funding round. Investors include: DARPA, ARCH Venture Partners, Paladin Capital Group, Yuri Milner, and some undisclosed investors.

Series C

On June 10 2015, Twist Bioscience closed a $37,000,000 series C funding round. Investors include: Foresite Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Paladin Capital Group, Venture Investors, Fidelity Management & Research, Illumina, Joby Pritzker, and Yuri Milner.

Series D

On March 27th 2017, Twist Bioscience closed a $61,000,000 series D funding round. Investors include: Foresite Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Paladin Capital Group, Fidelity Management & Research, Illumina, Boris Nikolic, Cormorant Asset Management, WuXi Healthcare Ventures, Yuri Milner, Mérieux Développement, ARCH Overage Fund, Nick Pritzker, and Joby Pritzker.

Series E

On June 14th 2017, Twist Bioscience closed a $27,000,000 series E funding round. Investors include: Biomatics Capital, Reinet Fund S.C.A, F.I.S, NFT Investment Limited, KangMei Group, Bay City Capital, GF Xinde Life Science Investment Fund, 3W Partners Capital, and Ditch Plains Capital Management LP.

Private placement

On April 3rd 2018, Twist Bioscience received $50,000,000 in funding from private investors.

Partnerships

Desktop genetics

In June 2016, Twist Bioscience became partners with Desktop Genetics, a company using AI to create CRISPR screens. The partnership focuses on developing and integrating DNA synthesis tools to design research protocols that enhance gene editing research. Desktop Genetics works with their customers to design CRISPR sgRNA libraries for a cell line before sending this information to Twist Bioscience for sgRNA library synthesis. This partnership aims to reduce cost and improve efficiency of gene editing research.

BioBricks Foundation

In June 2017, the BioBricks foundation partnered up with Twist Bioscience on the Free Genes project, an initiative to create an open-source library of 10,000 genes that form biological parts important for synthetic biology. Twist Bioscience will be providing all the DNA that will be used for the project, and BioBricks will assemble a library of useful genes using its team and drawing on support from the scientific community. All genetic constructs created through this partnership will be made freely available to the public through the Open Material Transfer Agreement, which allows any recipient to use, modify, combine, copy, and redistribute the genes (in compliance with applicable biosafety and intellectual property laws).

Quintara Biosciences

In July 2017, Quintara Bioscience and Twist Bioscience became business partners, announcing they will be working together to create qBlock Gene Fragment and qGene DNA cloning services. Twist Bioscience will combine their silicon DNA synthesis technology with Quintara Bioscience's sequencing and cloning technologies to deliver gene fragment and cloning services.

Synbio Technologies

Twist Bioscience and Synbio Technologies became partners on July 11th, 2017. The partnership seeks to combine technologies being used at both companies, by offering DNA strands up to 70 kilobases in length. Twist Bioscience will synthesize DNA strands up to 3.2 kilobases in length before shipping them off to Synbio Technologies for completion. This partnership gives both companies more international presence: Twist Bioscience in located in San Francisco, and Synbio Technologies is in China, so by working together they plan to be able to offer improved DNA strand products that enhance scientific research for the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Mergers/acquisitions

Genome Compiler

On April 6th, 2016 Twist Bioscience acquired the Israeli software company Genome Compiler for an undisclosed price. Twist plans to use Genome Compiler's software developers and technology to build an an e-commerce platform that allows customers to create their own gene designs online before ordering, and to leverage their strong software development team for future projects.

Revenue

According to BCC Research, the overall market for synthetic biology products is expected to grow from $4.4 billion in 2017 to over $13.9 billion by 2022.

Twist serves 600 customers across the three areas of the synthetic biology market in a broad range of industries. Revenue was $20.5 million for the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2018, and revenue in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2018, the company's fiscal year end, is estimated to be between $8.0 million and $8.3 million. Ginkgo Bioworks is Twist Bioscience's largest customer, accounting for 32% of revenue.