NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Twist Bioscience and the BioBricks Foundation (BBF) announced today that they will work together to construct a collection of synthetic DNA that will be made freely available to the research community.
Under the terms of the deal, BBF will pay Twist for the synthesis of 10,000 genes, including ones suggested by researchers through an open online forum. Once manufactured, the genes will be offered by BBF to the research community at no cost through an open material transfer agreement with Twist.
Additional terms were not disclosed.
"By enabling everyone to work together to create a free-to-use dictionary of genes, we believe that many more people will be able to benefit from biology and be enabled as citizens of biotechnology," Stanford researcher and BBF President Drew Endy said in a statement. "Importantly, this publicly available DNA enabled by Twist Bioscience will serve as an educational means for the larger community to explore the use of synthetic DNA and help drive future demand."