Syngenta Crop Protection and Ginkgo Bioworks Collaborate to Accelerate Biological Solutions

Key Takeaways:

1. Syngenta Crop Protection and Ginkgo Bioworks announced a new collaboration to develop innovative biological solutions.
2. The collaboration aims to optimize a microbial strain for large-scale production of a secondary metabolite from Syngenta’s pipeline.
3. Ginkgo Bioworks will utilize its biological knowledge and machine learning capabilities for strain development.
4. The partnership seeks to expedite Syngenta’s go-to-market timeline for its latest biological solution.
5. The collaboration builds on previous successful projects between Syngenta and Ginkgo Bioworks.

Accelerating Agricultural Innovation

Syngenta Crop Protection, a leader in agricultural innovation, and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), a prominent platform for cell programming and biosecurity, have announced a new collaboration aimed at accelerating the launch of a novel biological solution. This collaboration builds on their previous work together on next-generation seed technology.

Optimizing Microbial Strain Development

Through this collaboration, Ginkgo Bioworks plans to develop and optimize a microbial strain capable of meeting the productivity targets for a secondary metabolite from Syngenta’s biologicals pipeline. This molecule is identified by Syngenta as a pioneering biological solution. Successful, cost-effective, and large-scale production of this metabolite would significantly expedite Syngenta’s go-to-market timeline for its latest biological solution.

To achieve these goals, Ginkgo will leverage its Ag Biologicals capabilities to calculate theoretical performance and guide rational strain engineering strategies. This approach aims to develop a microbial strain robust enough to meet Syngenta’s objectives. Ginkgo will apply its biological knowledge and machine learning capabilities to generate insights from multiple complex data sources, diagnosing strain performance limitations, and discovering new biological features.

Commitment to Sustainable Agriculture

Camilla Corsi, Global Head of Research at Syngenta Crop Protection, highlighted the importance of biological solutions: “Biologicals are increasingly important in addressing the need for efficient and sustainable agricultural solutions worldwide. At Syngenta, we are committed to providing farmers with greater complementary product and technology choices that promote sustainable agricultural practices. We are excited to work with Ginkgo and are confident that their distinctive capabilities will enable us to achieve our productivity goals for our targeted molecule, expediting our time to market.”

Expanding a Successful Relationship

Magalie Guilhabert, Head of Ag Biologicals at Ginkgo Bioworks, expressed enthusiasm for the expanded partnership: “We are so excited to expand our relationship with Syngenta. We’ve built a successful relationship from our work together on plant traits and now look forward to doing the same with ag biologicals. Ginkgo is proud to put our excellent assets and experience against some of our customer’s toughest challenges. We’ll work to achieve productivity levels to realize commercial viability for Syngenta’s innovative ag biologicals product launch.”