-- Peer-Reviewed Publication Details Next Steps for Access to Safe,
Secure DNA Synthesis --
Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a company enabling
customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA
using its silicon platform, today announced a new biosecurity
publication titled ‘Next Steps for Access to Safe, Secure DNA
Synthesis’, highlighting specific steps, in part derived from successes
in the cybersecurity community, that ensure DNA synthesis screening
(screening both the sequence and the customer) stays well ahead of
emerging challenges and continues to enable responsible research
advances. The publication was featured in Frontiers in Bioengineering
and Biotechnology, an open-access, peer-reviewed publication.
“Manufacturing synthetic DNA at increased scale and complexity holds
tremendous promise to advance the progress in the grand challenges
facing our world,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of
Twist Bioscience. “At the same time, we believe that this opportunity
comes with a responsibility to build and operate a comprehensive
biosecurity program to support responsible research and reduce risk, as
well as engage with the global biosecurity community to plan for future
challenges.”
Adding to the ongoing biosecurity screening of sequences and customers
Twist implements for all incoming orders, the publication encourages the
synthetic biology community as a whole to conduct the following
activities:
-
Red teaming: hiring an expert group to identify vulnerabilities in
internal biosecurity screening systems, similar to a third-party audit;
-
Screening oligo-length sequences: as the availability of large
quantities of short DNA increases, the publication posits these, too,
should be subject to screening (currently, guidance calls for all
sequences over 200 base pairs to be screened);
-
Shared responsibility for assessing risk through research funding by
governments and institutions;
-
Democratizing access to sequence screening across large and small
organizations through open source software algorithms and data sources
to improve accuracy and affordability to carry out screening; and
-
Continuing to raise awareness of biosecurity best practices including
‘know your customer’ from the 2010 Health and Human Services Screening
Framework Guidance for Providers of Synthetic Double-Stranded DNA.
The full text of the publication can be viewed here.
“We believe that, together, this multifaceted approach to advance
technology, policy, education and social environments will ensure
screening and security practices scale - in terms of the rapidly growing
number of global synthesis requests as well as evolving with increasing
knowledge of biological systems and functional components – and will
help guard against potential misuse,” commented James Diggans, Ph.D.,
director of bioinformatics and biosecurity for Twist Bioscience.
About Twist Bioscience Corporation
Twist Bioscience is a leading and rapidly growing synthetic biology
company that has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform to
industrialize the engineering of biology. The core of the platform is a
proprietary technology that pioneers a new method of manufacturing
synthetic DNA by “writing” DNA on a silicon chip. Twist is leveraging
its unique technology to manufacture a broad range of synthetic
DNA-based products, including synthetic genes, tools for next-generation
sequencing (NGS) preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery
and development. Twist is also pursuing longer-term opportunities in
digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery. Twist makes
products for use across many industries including healthcare, industrial
chemicals, agriculture and academic research.
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Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements
other than statements of historical facts contained herein are
forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and
expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but
not limited to, the potential promise of Twist Bioscience’s
manufacturing synthetic DNA at increased scale and complexity. Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and other important factors that may cause Twist
Bioscience’s actual results, performance, or achievements to be
materially different from any future results, performance, or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the risks and
uncertainties of the ability to attract new customers and retain and
grow sales from existing customers; risks and uncertainties of rapidly
changing technologies and extensive competition in synthetic biology
could make the products Twist Bioscience is developing obsolete or
non-competitive; uncertainties of the retention of a significant
customer; risks of third party claims alleging infringement of patents
and proprietary rights or seeking to invalidate Twist Bioscience’s
patents or proprietary rights; and the risk that Twist Bioscience’s
proprietary rights may be insufficient to protect its technologies. For
a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking
statements, as well as risks relating to Twist Bioscience’s business in
general, see Twist Bioscience’s risk factors set forth in Twist
Bioscience’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on December 20, 2018 and Twist Bioscience’s Form
10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on February 11, 2019. Any forward-looking
statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date
hereof, and Twist Bioscience specifically disclaims any obligation to
update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
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