Molecular Assemblies Achieves Key Milestones in DARPA NOW Project for On-Demand DNA Vaccine Manufacturing

● Molecular Assemblies awarded an additional $4 million to support further technology development in next phase of DARPA-funded project being led by GE HealthCare's Technology and Innovation Center

● Molecular Assemblies' Fully Enzymatic Synthesis enables synthesis of long, accurate oligos in picomole or femtomole scales, a fundamental capability for this program and for a variety of application needs

● Rapidly scalable and deployable mobile platform is being developed to increase speed at which new medical countermeasures could be deployed in response to a pandemic

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Molecular Assemblies, Inc., ("MAI" or the "Company") a pioneer and leader in the field of enzymatic DNA synthesis, today announced the achievement of key milestones for therapeutic DNA target accuracy and technology automation for the project from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) called NOW (Nucleic Acids On-Demand Worldwide). The ambitious goal of this project, collaborating with a multidisciplinary team, led by GE HealthCare's Technology and Innovation Center (formerly part of GE Research), is to enable the production of DNA- based vaccines and therapeutics, anywhere in the world in just days.

Based on the success of the initial technology development objectives of the project, Molecular Assemblies' engagement is extended and will receive an additional $4 million from DARPA to support technology transfer and preparation of higher accuracy therapeutic targets with the Company's proprietary Fully Enzymatic Synthesis™ (FES™) technology. The FES technology uses aqueous, non-toxic reagents and is designed to deliver on-demand highly-pure, sequence-specific DNA. The Company will also further develop sequence design software, gene synthesis methods, and associated automation platform for production of low error rate vaccine targets.

"This new funding for the DARPA NOW project to support additional technology development is another validation of Molecular Assemblies' proprietary Fully Enzymatic Synthesis technology and our dedicated and talented team," said Larry Stambaugh, Board Chair of Molecular Assemblies. "We look forward to advancing our technology as we drive the field forward, leading commercial development."

"Highly pure, accurate DNA will greatly improve the speed and development of DNA- and potentially RNA-based vaccines," said Phil Paik, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer of Molecular Assemblies. "As we continue to advance our FES technology to longer lengths and faster turnaround times, we are setting new standards that expand the sequence design space and enable new therapeutic possibilities."

DARPA's NOW program, managed by Dr. Shannon Greene in the Biological Technologies Office, was created to develop a rapid, mobile medical manufacturing platform for producing, formulating, and packaging DNA vaccines and therapeutics for use in stabilization and humanitarian operations and to better prepare deployed field-forward forces against bio-threat attacks and emerging infectious diseases.

Molecular Assemblies is part of the GE HealthCare-led DARPA NOW project, called RUN FAST (Rapid Universal Nucleic Acids using Fieldable Automated Synthesis Technology), which leverages the expertise of the GE HealthCare team to build automated systems in the biological production of medicines and therapies with a novel synthetic method for making DNA, and potentially RNA, to assemble a complete mobile medical manufacturing platform. For more on GE HealthCare, visit their website: https://www.gehealthcare.com/.

Molecular Assemblies' FES^TM Technology

Molecular Assemblies' Fully Enzymatic Synthesis (FES) is the foundation of their approach to create long, high quality, sequence specific DNA composed of 400+ base pairs. Important to the FES breakthrough technology is that it mimics the way DNA is naturally produced and decreases the need for lengthy and expensive post-synthesis purification. Synthetic synthesis of DNA chains is the foundation for experiments in the biotechnology and health science sectors and for seeing biology achieve its long sought after full promise. The proprietary platform is powering the exciting next generation of DNA-based products. Molecular Assemblies is now offering access to long, custom and highly complex oligonucleotides synthesized with the Company's FES technology enabling customers to accelerate their research in CRISPR gene editing, molecular cloning, gene assembly, and NGS probes and controls. Building on the DARPA program it is also rapidly advancing its unique capabilities into gene synthesis, click here to learn more.

About Molecular Assemblies

Molecular Assemblies, Inc. is a private life sciences company advancing their proprietary enzymatic DNA synthesis technology that is designed to significantly elevate the future generation of DNA-based products. The company's patented Fully Enzymatic Synthesis™ (or FES™), based on making DNA the way nature makes DNA, produces long, high quality, sequence-specific DNA reliably, affordably, and sustainably, including complex sequences not available today. FES technology will enable the reading and writing of DNA for many industries, including industrial synthetic biology and precision medicine, as well as emerging applications of DNA for data information storage, agriculture, nanomachines, and bio-based electronics. Molecular Assemblies is headquartered in San Diego. For more information, visit molecularassemblies.com.

Contacts
Company: Ben Johnson, Senior Director of Sales and Marketing, [email protected] (858) 257-3078

SOURCE Molecular Assemblies