
Ginkgo and Persephone Complete Collaboration on Toolkit to Create Custom Bacteroides for Life Science Research and Pharmaceutical Development
Persephone Biosciences Inc. and Ginkgo Bioworks announced the completion of their initial collaboration with the development of a reusable Bacteroides Anaerobic Engineering Toolkit. The toolkit is a versatile collection of genetic tools that streamline Bacteroides engineering, particularly in anaerobic environments. In April 2022, Persephone and Ginkgo joined forces to create novel microbiome products based on the Bacteroides genus, known for its potential to deliver microbial products reliably and for extended periods. The collaborative effort led to the development of a high-throughput anaerobic cell engineering platform. Within this platform, Ginkgo designed and evaluated numerous components, including promoters, shuttle vectors, ribosome binding sites, and terminators, to assess their efficiency and expression levels. These components were then curated across the expression spectrum to form the finalized toolkit. Persephone intends to employ the Bacteroides technology for expediting the creation of therapeutics, particularly in its ongoing oncology biomarker research and believes the new tools have the potential to accelerate the production of health-enhancing solutions across various cancer types. For Ginkgo, this toolkit represents an added dimension to its platform including the development of microbiome-based therapeutics.
Jennifer Wipf, Ginkgo’s Head of Commercial, Cell Engineering, emphasized the importance of this collaboration in enhancing the company’s platform, ensuring its readiness for partners who envision leveraging biology to solve global issues. As Ginkgo continues to extend its network of partners, the collaboration with Persephone has added a new, valuable offering to the biotechnology landscape, particularly in therapeutic areas of high interest.