News Digest #210 – Opentrons’ $10M for lab of the future, SynBioBeta early bird ends next week (sponsored by Opentrons)

Hi all,Opentrons just announced the most affordable high-precision lab robot for biologists, OT-2, as part of their mission to democratize lab robotics. OT-2 is a personal lab robot that takes care of repetitive pipetting and it's faster than many robots ten times more expensive. Check out our article and interview with Will Canine, Co-founder of Opentrons, who will be speaking at SynBioBeta 2018, and register by April 6th before early bird ends.

The trend towards the engineering of biology is clear, but how to facilitate it and build tech-like companies in the bio space? Vijay Pande and Jorge Conde, general partners at the Andreessen Horowitz bio fund, reflect on all this and more in this video conversation.

Are you a seed or pre-seed stage entrepreneur with a vision and big idea? If you can get yourself to the Bay Area on April 20th then please drop me a note with a brief background about your interests.In other news, AmpliPhi Biosciences, a company developing targeted bacteriophage therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant infections, closed a $3M offering of common stock. Phage therapeutics can be precisely targeted to kill select bacteria.Last week I visited UC Berkeley’s startup accelerator, SkyDeck, which is partnering with QB3 to launch the Bio Track Accelerator Program. They will select two companies to receive a $100,000 investment, in addition to wet lab bench space and introductions to life science investors. Applications are open through this Friday.

Chon Tang, Founding Partner, and I at the SkyDeck in Berkeley, which is getting its bio on!Happy Wednesday!John

Bayer Collaborates with Greater Sacramento in new incubator space for biotech startups

Jennifer Doudna to advise CRISPR start-up Synthego

Cambridge Consultants reveals a vision for the use of bioplastics in food packaging

Genomatica brings sustainable cosmetics ingredient Brontide™ to Europe

Monsanto and AgriMetis to drive novel insect control solutions

Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence to help drive translation of Bristol’s Synbio Research

Who's Hiring?

Senior/Staff Computational Scientist, Bioinformatics: Inscripta, Boulder, COSr. Scientist, Applications: Inscripta, Boulder, COSynthetic biologist/Protein engineer: XENO Cell Innovations, Pilsen, Czech RepublicProduct Manager, Cells: Synthego, CaliforniaSenior QA Specialist: Synthego, California