Ginkgo Bioworks Partners With Republic of Madagascar to Enhance Biosecurity – Follows String of Biosecurity Announcements for the Company’s Concentric Division
Ginkgo Bioworks, a leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, has partnered with the Government of the Republic of Madagascar to enhance biosecurity capabilities in the country. Ginkgo’s biosecurity unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, will provide Madagascar with infrastructure and tools to strengthen its biosecurity measures against COVID-19 and other biological threats. This collaboration will involve bioinformatics training, digital pathogen monitoring dashboards, genomic sequencing technologies, and the implementation of a wastewater and nasal swab monitoring program at key ports of entry, including Ivato International Airport. The aim is to create a biosecurity network across the African continent to detect and respond to biological threats, following Concentric’s partnerships with other African countries. This initiative will contribute to global biosecurity infrastructure and provide early warning systems for potential biological threats. This announcement follows recent agreements with the Republic of Botswana, Republic of Panama, and the Republic of Congo.
Ginko also recently announced a partnership with Ceres Nanosciences to provide pathogen monitoring capabilities to laboratories worldwide. The partnership uses Ceres’ Nanotrap technology, which was developed with support from the NIH RADx Initiative, and enables the detection of various pathogens in wastewater samples efficiently. Concentric by Ginkgo, Ginkgo Bioworks’ biosecurity unit, demonstrated that coupling Ceres’ wastewater testing methods with Concentric’s analysis can detect SARS-CoV-2 variants early. The partnership aims to train labs in countries with Concentric biosecurity programs, providing them with the tools and infrastructure needed for standardized wastewater testing and global pathogen monitoring.
Furthermore, the company’s Concentric by Ginko division also recently partnered with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to collaborate on pandemic surveillance efforts. The two organizations announced the intention to develop a joint biosurveillance testing program for pathogens, initially focusing on wastewater testing in Nairobi, Kenya. The program is poised to identify and mitigate pathogens and antimicrobial resistant genes originating in animals and livestock, contributing to global biosecurity infrastructure. The organizations also plan to establish sequencing-based activities for pathogen identification and bioinformatics support. This collaboration aligns with ILRI’s One Health to transform food systems through disruptive innovations and multidisciplinary collaborations.