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Living Foundries

Living Foundries

ChemicalsFuelsPharma

Complex

MaterialsDNA instruction set

PolymersCatalysts Heterogeneous, functional materials

Multi-cellular constructsSelf-repairing systemsSentinel Organisms

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Sugar

Cellulose

CO2

Coal

Molecules

Systems

Natural gas

“cell-like”factory

Disruptive capabilities in materials, therapeutics, sensors and manufacturing paradigms

1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,0001.00E+03

1.00E+04

1.00E+05

1.00E+06

1.00E+07

1.00E+08

1.00E+09

1.00E+10

1.00E+11

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1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 Complexity (# genes inserted/modified)

1010

1011

109

108

107

106

105

104

103Effor

t (t

otal

$ *

yrs

to

deve

lop)

[$*

yr] yeastminimal

bacterium

DARPA annual budget

Engineering Biology: Prohibitive Cost, Time, Complexity

Living Foundriesgenome rewritecomplex genetic

circuits

metabolic engineering

SOA

Problem: Engineering biology is prohibitively time and money intensive, blocking disruptive capabilities across materials, sensors, medicine and

manufacturing.

DuPont1,3 propanediol 2002

AmyrisArtemisinin2009

4

“There was a gap between the sorts of systems we could visualize and what we could actually get into hardware in

a timely way.”Lynn Conway on VLSI

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Comparison: integrated circuit design and fab

Intel 4004Year - 1971

5

dual-feedback oscillator

Artemisinic acid production in yeast

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Comparison: integrated circuit design and fab

6

Conway and Mead Design Principles

• Simplification and Standardization• Raise abstraction level of design • Design Rules• Design Tools• Decoupling of Design and Fab • Access to rapid prototyping services (common infrastructure)• Enable open collaboration

Intel 4004Year - 1971

Technical

Structural

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Building a new technology base to enable transformative applications

Living Foundries: ATCG

Foundries

Demo New Capability

New tools to enable rapid engineering of biology

Enable scale and rapid prototyping of genetic designs never before

accessible

1000 Molecules 1000 new chemical

building blocks for new materials

100x faster DBT cycle for engineering biology

Fundamental shift in chemical/materials

industry

. . . Enable Impossible Projects

Living Foundries: 1000 Molecules

IMPACT:

Engage and Seed industrial/academic partnerships

Open up new avenues for innovationEnable access/new entrants

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BTOBiology as Technology

9

Traditional DoD View of Biology

Biology = Medicine for the Warfighter

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Traditional DoD View of Biology

Biology = Medicine for the WarfighterTechnology

National Security

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www.darpa.mil

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