News Digest #228 – IndieBio:NYC, CRISPR diagnostics, 5 must-dos for biotech start-ups + Opentrons on SynBioBetaLive! (sponsored by Corteva Agriscience)

Hi all,We’re excited to announce the next SynBioBetaLive! Join us on Wednesday, August 8 at 10a Pacific / 1pm Eastern for a live web conversation between myself and Opentrons Founder and CPO Will Canine as Will shares his vision for the future of lab automation following the release of Opentrons' new liquid handling robot, the OT-2. We will discuss the capabilities of this great little machine, whose open-source API promises to democratize biology and enable the lean biotech startup once and for all. If all goes well, the OT-2 will print a little surprise for you at the end of the live broadcast! Register here -->Last week at the BIO World Congress, Krysta Harden (pictured below), Corteva Agriscience’s VP of External Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer, won the Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology and Agriculture. I’d like to thank Corteva Agriscience for sponsoring this week’s SynBioBeta digest. Check out how they are rethinking how agriculture works.

While CRISPR continues to make headlines about editing the human genome, an equally important effort is quietly underway– potentially revolutionizing diagnostic medicine by making rapid disease detection available virtually everywhere. This week we take a look at the world's first CRISPR-enabled platform for disease detection, developed by Mammoth Biosciences. Don't miss the CEO and Co-founder Trevor Martin speaking at SynBioBeta 2018 (Register today! Discount ends Friday).

Are you thinking about a biotech start-up? James Currier, a four-time VC-backed CEO and manager of NFX’s $150M biotech fund, shared his valuable advice at a recent SynBioBeta thought leader retreat. James was the first investor in 130 companies, including Mammoth Biosciences. Startup accelerator IndieBio is expanding to New York City next year after securing $25 million in funding from New York State. They will work with 20 startup companies a year, providing each with an investment of up to $2 million as well as mentorship and business training.We are excited to announce our latest speakers, including Dan Arlow of Ansa Biotechnologies, which is developing a better way to synthesize DNA, Gigi Gronvall of Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, focused on biosecurity and biosafety, Paul Garofolo of Locus Biosciences, which is developing CRISPR-engineered phages that kill target bacteria, and Felix Moser of Synlife, which is building synthetic minimal cells bottom-up. We hope you will join us.

Have a great week!Regards,John

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