The Tough Tech problem we are solving
Evolution takes time. For thousands of years, humans have sought to speed it up, adapting organisms to our needs through selective breeding, husbandry, and the occasional happy accident (bread, wine or penicillin). But biomanufacturing remains rudimentary. Even today’s sophisticated synthetic biology factories predominantly rely on simple, well-characterized, organisms—discovered, for the most part, through luck. “Our current tools are constricted,” says Jing Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Anthology. “We are barely even scratching the surface of nature’s biosynthetic diversity.”
About our solution
Anthology, a Cambridge, MA-based startup with roots at MIT, Boston University, and Harvard, is unlocking new possibilities for biomanufacturing by accelerating the speed of genetic mutation and selection. Rather than generate diversity using rational modification (a few genes at a time), or chemical mutagenesis (a few point mutations at a time), Anthology’s techniques enable mutational capacity beyond existing scales and complexities. Using proprietary hardware and custom digital tools, Anthology is building an integrated platform that rapidly selects and screens these variants, to identify new workhorses for bioproduction that overcome the persistent challenges of expensive feedstocks, low yields, and cumbersome processing. “By generating highly diversified genomes, we are drastically increasing our odds of landing on phenotypes that can transform biomanufacturing,” explains co-founder Tzu-Chieh (Zijay) Tang. “Instead of buying ten tickets for the genetic lottery, we can buy a billion.”