We accidentally built a synthetic cell factory
b.next, an SF-based startup, started as academics aiming to solve interoperability in synthetic cell research. After hitting roadblocks—restrictive licensing, incomplete plasmids, and disappearing tRNA suppliers—they built their own open-source PURE system and eventually a manufacturing plant. They now ship Cytosol kits, made to open specifications, to labs worldwide. Their journey from academic project to industrial infrastructure highlights the fragile supply chains in synthetic biology and the need for open, reliable reagents.
We realized just how brittle the supply chains for synthetic cells were—a hodgepodge of different providers, often singular for a given reagent, none of whom cared about synthetic cell researchers in particular.
- twentyfiveoh1
Didn't think the site was going to load. Managed to grab a copy just in case it gets hugged.
- ninininino
What could go wrong, seems like such a great idea, why not put a synthetic cell factory and an uncensored/abliterated open model into the hands of every Columbine high school teen in a trenchcoat.
What a contribution!
Jokes aside, if you support gun control you should think very seriously about if you believe a company like this should be legally allowed to do what it's doing. I personally do not.