SGI Purchases Patent Portfolio from Febit

October 1, 2012
AlgaeIndustryMagazine.com

ynthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI), a privately held company developing and commercializing genomic-driven solutions to solve a range of global challenges, has announced they have purchased from Febit Holding GmbH the worldwide rights to three families of patents and patent applications related to key synthetic genomic technologies. All related know-how, equipment and technical support for implementation, were also purchased.

This newly acquired SGI technology includes methods for highly parallelized, low-cost oligonucleotide synthesis and retrieval of sequence-validated DNA. Together, these technologies have the potential to drastically reduce the cost of DNA synthesis, a technical problem the synthetic biology community has faced since the first synthetic gene was produced forty years ago.

“The intellectual property from Febit will strengthen and accelerate SGI’s ongoing development and commercialization of a variety of products including algae-based food and nutritional products, biofuels, biochemicals, synthetic vaccines and clean water,” said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, SGI. “The ability to construct accurate and inexpensive DNA, together with our current proprietary DNA assembly and genome transplantation methodologies, enable enhanced capacity to synthesize DNA and reprogram cells at a larger scale than what is currently achievable.”

The newly acquired SGI patent families include seven issued United States and European patents covering methods to produce polymers, specifically double stranded, synthetic nucleic acids from a variety of oligonucleotides on a solid support; and methods for retrieving sequence verified synthetic nucleic acids following assembly on solid supports. These methods can be used to quickly synthesize genetic components in parallel, and then selectively assemble the components having the perfect sequence into double stranded genes and larger DNA constructs with minimal errors.