Zymtronix and Ginkgo Bioworks Announce Partnership to Produce Enzymes for the Industrialization of Cell-Free Biomanufacturing

DURHAM, N.C. and BOSTON, Feb. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Zymtronix, a developer of cell-free process technologies, and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, today announced a partnership to optimize enzymes used in Zymtronix's proprietary cell-free platform for the production of important ingredients in food, agriculture, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Enzymatic biocatalysis is a powerful manufacturing technology that can enable the production of a wide range of chemicals and molecules. Zymtronix's cell-free platform is designed to solve challenges associated with traditional biocatalysis and seeks to enable the production of a wide range of products with precision and productivity. By partnering with Ginkgo to build and produce bioengineered market-ready enzymes, Zymtronix anticipates being able to extend its solutions into the pharma, nutrition, and agriculture markets, among others.

Ginkgo Enzyme Services offers partners end-to-end support for the discovery, optimization, and production of enzymes for diverse applications. Through the partnership, Ginkgo will leverage its suite of enzyme services to engineer enzymes for Zymtronix's applications using metagenomic enzyme discovery as well as improve enzyme expression and production host performance.

"We're thrilled to welcome Zymtronix to the platform and support their applications in sustainable ingredients and beyond," said Ena Cratsenburg, Chief Business Officer at Ginkgo Bioworks. "We built out Ginkgo's platform to serve a wide variety of enzyme discovery, engineering, optimization and scale up efforts, and we're so excited for the work to come in this partnership. Zymtronix's cell-free biomanufacturing platform is pioneering solutions for various industries, and we're eager to leverage our end-to-end capabilities and help expand its efforts in transforming the way enzymes are used."

"This partnership will greatly accelerate our work of bringing the precision and scalability of cell-free biomanufacturing and sustainable ingredients to market starting with alternatives to animal sources; Ginkgo is uniquely able to support us with both enzyme engineering and strain expression, helping us continue to accelerate commercialization," said Stéphane Corgié, CEO-CTO and founder, Zymtronix. "We hope to extend this partnership in the future to facilitate the production of multiple end-market products."

To learn more about Ginkgo Enzyme Services, please visit ginkgobioworks.com/enzyme-services/.

About Zymtronix

With technology originating at Cornell University, Zymtronix Catalytic Systems, Inc. (DBA Zymtronix, Inc.) has opened completely new biomanufacturing possibilities with their cell-free product development and proprietary process technologies.  Their novel matrices of unique immobilization materials and composition of enzymes can provide previously inaccessible molecules and fundamentally change existing product economies.  The uniqueness and efficiency of the Zymtronix systems can dramatically improve the sustainability profiles of manufactured products and provide new pathways for novel compounds. The founder, Stéphane Corgié, PhD (CEO-CTO) is joined by a dedicated and fast-growing team of over 20 employees.

For more information about Zymtronix, please visit https://zymtronix.com/ or follow Zymtronix on Twitter or LinkedIn.

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo's biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure for biosecurity to empower governments, communities, and public health leaders to prevent, detect and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and concentricbyginkgo.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as Twitter (@Ginkgo and @ConcentricByGBW), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks and @ConcentricByGinkgo), or LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of the partnership and Ginkgo's cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business, (ii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, (iii) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (iv) the unpredictability of the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the demand for COVID-19 testing and the commercial viability of our COVID-19 testing business, (v) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, and (vi) our ability to realize the expected benefits of merger and acquisition transactions. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on November 14, 2022 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

ZYMTRONIX USA MEDIA AND INVESTOR CONTACT:
[email protected]

GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR CONTACT:
[email protected]

GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA CONTACT:
[email protected]

SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks