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Arzeda and Zymergen collaborate on development of new molecules

| By Scott Jenkins

Zymergen Inc. (Emeryville, Calif.; www.zymergen.com) and Arzeda (Seattle, Wash.; www.arzeda.com) announced a multi-year agreement to develop strains and processes to manufacture novel, high utility molecules and materials utilizing Arzeda’s pathway and enzyme design and Zymergen’s strain construction capabilities.   
 
“The development of new materials was a major driver of technological development over the course of the 20th century.  Biology has the potential to drive materials breakthroughs in the 21st century, and Arzeda’s technology can help identify new avenues for unlocking this potential,” said Zach Serber, Zymergen’s Chief Scientific Officer. “We look forward to the results of the collaboration.”
 
“We have only started to scratch the surface of what synthetic biology can deliver in terms of new molecules and materials. Arzeda’s computational design technology opens up the ability to produce molecules with applications in transportation, medicine, and communications that are not currently biosynthetized,” said Alexandre Zanghellini, Arzeda’s Chief Executive Officer. “Uniting with Zymergen’s innovative strain design platform has the potential to help make our designs a reality. “Zymergen’s scientists are constantly pushing the envelope in synthetic biology, and we are thrilled to be working with their team.”
 
Arzeda’s Archytas™ industrial protein design software and Scylax™ computational pathway design tool will be used to identify and design new enzymatic pathways capable of producing molecules that are impossible to synthesize via conventional chemistry.  These pathway designs will be implemented and tested by Zymergen’s high-throughput strain development and testing platform.