Evonetix is reimagining biology by developing a different approach to gene synthesis – a highly parallel desktop platform to synthesize DNA at unprecedented accuracy and scale. The Company’s platform will place DNA synthesis in the hands of researchers to change how DNA is accessed, made and used. This new paradigm in gene synthesis will facilitate and enable the rapidly growing field of synthetic biology.

The proprietary Evonetix approach utilizes a silicon chip, made by MEMS processing, that integrates physics with biology, and controls the synthesis of DNA at many thousands of independently controlled reaction sites or ‘pixels’ on the chip surface in a highly parallel fashion. The approach is compatible with both chemical and enzymatic DNA synthesis. Following synthesis, strands are assembled on-chip into double-stranded DNA in a process that identifies and removes errors, providing accuracy that is several orders of magnitude better than the conventional approach.

The Evonetix DNA writer will be a desktop device, available to all researchers, and providing scalable, accurate DNA synthesis to enable biological systems to be engineered with unprecedented accuracy and scale.

Foresite Capital believes that making biological engineering accessible and widespread will help drive the development of precision medicines to address many unmet medical needs.