News Digest #230 – Opentrons SynBioBetaLive! Today, Pivot Bio’s launch, Partner with P&G. (sponsored by P&G)

Hi all,Join us at 10am Pacific today for a SynBioBeta Live event with special guests Will Canine and Kristin Ellis from Opentrons, who will share their ideas about automating the world’s labs.

What’s the best way to approach companies like Procter & Gamble about partnering on your synbio tech and products? Next Tuesday at 9am Pacific I’ll be live from Chicago with P&G’s Amy Trejo, who will share tips on developing partnerships with CPG manufacturers. Amy will discuss goals for partnering, models for partnering, successful examples of P&G bio-based products, and some specific R&D areas of interest to P&G. Join us!Next week we’ll be announcing the first of five special reports on the growth of the synthetic biology industry. The first will be on chemicals and materials.In ag news, Pivot Bio announced that it's close to a commercial launch in 2019 to help US corn growers produce a more profitable, sustainable crop. Traditional nitrogen fertilizer is a disaster for the environment via greenhouse gas emissions, and also a disaster for our oceans via run-off and the creation of deadzones.What if plants could fix their own nitrogen? Well, with Pivot’s nitrogen-producing microbes being tested across the Corn Belt this summer, they can do! Check out the photos below:

Corn grown with Pivot Bio’s nitrogen-producing microbes (right) is greener and healthier. Source: Medium.

Karsten Temme (CEO of Pivot Bio), will be doing a special fireside chat on this at SynBioBeta 2018. Ryan Cawood, CEO of Oxford Genetics, will also be speaking and he just signed a multi-million pound supply and licensing agreement for CRISPR engineered mammalian cell lines.

Have a wonderful week!John

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