Twist Bioscience’s Post

I’m often asked why I picked synthetic DNA for my career and, to be honest, sometimes we make decisions in our 20s that impact our lifelong career trajectory. I made a decision to pursue DNA synthesis as I wanted to think, analyze and push past boundaries to unearth truths about this world—a decade later, this passion drove me to launch Twist Bioscience, a company whose products do enable world changing research. This is what drives all of us at Twist. We innovate and introduce new products to meet evolving customer needs and we’ve spent more than a decade helping researchers do what they love by building out a robust synthetic toolbox that includes DNA, RNA and proteins today. Synthetic DNA is one of the most transformative tools in modern science. Its applications are breathtaking in their scope: designing nitrogen-fixing bacteria to improve crop yields, enabling CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies, sequencing tumor genomes with just a drop of blood—the list goes on. Yet for all its potential, synthetic DNA’s ability to drive breakthroughs depends on innovation and accessibility. From day one, Twist has been dedicated to making synthetic DNA a catalyst for scientific advancement, and 2024 was a year where we brought new tools to the table that are already reshaping what’s possible in research. Take Express Genes, which we expanded this year to deliver sequence-perfect clonal genes of up to 5kb in just five days. Researchers no longer need to spend weeks cloning or waiting for delivery—they can now move from idea to experiment in record time. With the launch of Multiplex Gene Fragments (MGFs), we’ve introduced customizable, double-stranded DNA pools up to 500 bps, enabling everything from large-scale CRISPR screens to Ab optimization. Now, when AI and machine learning are identifying sequences faster than ever, MGFs give researchers the speed and scale to act on those insights. What excites me most is the ripple effect these innovations create. By giving scientists tools that save time and expand possibilities, we help accelerate discoveries in medicine, agriculture and more. This year, we saw one of our antibody candidates enter clinical trials—a powerful reminder of the real-world impact synthetic DNA can have on human health. But innovation must be responsible. As synthetic DNA becomes more integral to science, we’re committed to ensuring its use is safe, secure. In 2024, we continued to set the bar for biosecurity, working closely with governments and regulators to address emerging risks. As we head into 2025, I’m energized by what’s to come. Twist will continue to enable researchers to overcome technical barriers and focus on discovery. By synthesizing high-quality DNA and innovating to meet evolving needs, we aim to empower the scientific community to ask bigger questions—and find more transformative answers. Here’s to another year of advancing the future of science. #SyntheticDNA #Innovation #Research #TwistBioscience