Jason Kelly
@jrkelly
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Co-founder and CEO at Ginkgo Bioworks ($DNA)🧬 Former Chair of US National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology 🇺🇸
Joined May 2008
Amazing day yesterday at Ginkgo Ferment! 🧬🎉🧬. Keynote is here where I announce our new Lab Data as a Service offering! . Can see the first set of services here!. You own the data generated, no royalties, transparent pricing and.
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Watched the @bryan_johnson documentary DONT DIE last night. Go give it a watch!!!. The trip to Prospera for gene therapy is very eye-opening. What if the follistatin gene Tx Bryan takes increases muscle mass and is safe? Is that a trillion dollar product? . It's crazy that
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What an honor to build something with people you love ❤️🧬🦖 $DNA
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"X doesn't grow on trees" . biology is so much better at manufacturing than any human-invented tech that we use it as an idiom for free and abundant. if we all do our job well in synthetic biology everything will grow on trees.
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Super excited to officially launch our newest product line -- Ginkgo Automation!🤖🧬🤖. Over the past 10 years @Ginkgo has built a ton of amazing technologies from automation to long DNA construction to complex -omics to proprietary data and AI assets. These tools had been kept
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This should be a popular opinion. I agree GLP-1 is a wake-up call for the biotechnology industry about the opportunity of applying the full tools of biotech towards longevity and lifestyle. No more silly supplements, use the real tech. Don't only develop biotech applications.
My unpopular opinion is that we ought to work more on biotechnology that will mitigate the negative biological effects of habitual human behaviors like overeating, drinking alcohol, not getting enough sleep, etc. Hedonic biotech, if you will. Humanity loves to engage in vices. We
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Counterpoint -- Lilly and Novo added about $1T in market cap in the last 5 years on the back of a single consumer biotech product. Human health and longevity is the largest market in the entire world, hands down. Would you pay more than you pay Apple every year to live longer,.
This week's Biotech Scorecard newsletter is mid-February depressing. Biotech is in a dark place. My recent conversations with folks in the biotech investing world can only be described as bleak. The market offers one beatdown after another. Sentiment is lousy and the bad mood.
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Real life Avatar!!. Petunias designed by Light Bio to glow in the dark approved today by USDA for sale in USA 🌱🧬🇺🇸. we're so back😏🙌. reserve one here:.
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I challenge any other synthetic biology CEO to a giant pumpkin growing competition. Step up cowards.
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we're making our genome databases at @Ginkgo available for AI model training if you want to go hunting. just reach out.
I really really want to believe there is a treasure trove of value in datasets like this.
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2025 going to be a big year for biotech. Don’t sleep on the most important of all the tech :) Happy New Year everyone!! 🦖🧬🎉.
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Happy 30th birthday to the movie that inspired a generation of genetic engineers 🎂
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Proud to announce we are opening Ginkgo's platform for free to researchers working on biotech solutions to COVID-19. This is the biggest biological event of our lifetimes and synthetic biology will be part of the solution. We want to support your work! .
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I'm honored to be selected as Chair for the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology w/ vice-chair @Michelle_Rozo🇺🇸🧬. Modeled on previous Commissions on AI (chaired by @ericschmidt) and Cyber (co-chairs @RepGallagher and @SenAngusKing)🧵.
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I'd be happy to build something like this for bioengineering if anyone wants to build the YC on top of it. Common lab automation and equipment core with a bunch of startups able to access it as a service w/o needing to invest in the capex.
i feel like if YC was optimizing for hardware more they could have much more impact by having a warehouse full of manufacturing and prototyping tools like 3d printers, CNCs, laser cutters, welders, etc and just space to build.
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Petunias designed to glow✨🌱✨. On sale for first time today !!!. The would is going to be so cool as we get better at designing DNA. Get ‘em before they run out ! Got mine already 😄😄
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I do hope @elonmusk goes back to the world of atoms at Tesla and SpaceX rather than bits here at Twitter. A lot of the big challenges in the world coming up are in the world of atoms -- we need more people building directly there! Landing rockets is also just cooler.
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So excited to announce our partnership with @googlecloud in AI!!. Thread on why I think writing DNA will be the biggest application of AI in the long run. 🧬🧵.
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I don't know who needs to hear this but synthetic biology is not = industrial biotechnology. synbio is a tools / platforms revolution. industrial biotech is applying biotech to making chemicals, fuels, and materials. both are important but they are different.
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Thrilled to announce our new $350M vehicle to invest in companies and spin-outs building on the Ginkgo platform! We have just scratched the surface of what programmed cells can do -- great to have 3 amazing funds ready to back more cell apps!🦠🚀🙌
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We completed layoffs yesterday at Ginkgo and had to let go of many truly excellent Bioworkers. This was the hardest change we've made at @Ginkgo and it's on myself and leadership for the decisions that led up to it. People come to Ginkgo because they want to develop new.
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I’m excited that @ginkgo listing tmmw on the @NYSE as $DNA will continue to raise the profile of synthetic biology! As more cell programs succeed, people will need to learn about this like we learned about the internet or PCs. Great story from @SteveLohr!
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Great comments from @sama. AI in many industries will first be used to drive efficiency (i.e. replace human work with inference spend) -- but in biotechnology it will enable us to do things we can't currently do at all. Humans don't "speak" DNA code natively and humans didn't.
Announcing the Stargate Project, a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment in the US, Sam Altman and President Trump say this is about building AGI, with one of the most important applications being the cure of diseases at an unprecedented rate
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Silicon Valley I love you, but world got saved b/c essential workers ran into the fire, healthcare workers put their mental health and lives on the line, and biotechs delivered an Apollo project. Zoom and clubhouse are ok, but tech mostly sat this one out.
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hah, biology makes our human-engineered technology look like such a joke.
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Well there goes my vacation to Moscow.
🚨 Also banned from Russia:. Salesforce CEO Marc @Benioff, $DNA CEO @jrkelly (and their COO), @jimmykimmel❓& executives at $BA $MSFT $PL $LHX $GD $NOC $BAH $LMT $RTX $BKSY $BAC $TXN @capellaspace @GeneralAtomics @Maxar @FortemTech @LinkedIn. As well as a lot of the Biden family.
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Excited to launch our newest offering -- Ginkgo Model API and the first publicly available model trained on Ginkgo's in-house data assets, AA-0! 🧬🎉. Over the past 10 years @Ginkgo has built a ton of amazing technologies from automation to long DNA construction to complex -omics
Today, we’re thrilled to announce two exciting launches, powered by our partnership with @googlecloud: our first protein LLM, AA-0, and our new model API, a powerful tool designed to bring biological AI models directly to machine learning scientists.
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I'd been waiting for $DNAQ to show up😏 give the old $TSLAQ people something to do😛.
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Excited to announce a new $29M contract for @ginkgo and partners from ARPA-H to develop distributed manufacturing of essential medicines using wheat germ as manufacturing infrastructure!. Our agricultural production is an untapped manufacturing base for the US.🇺🇸🌱 We have
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Ginkgo wouldn’t exist without @bryan_johnson’s early investment and support. Love it coming full circle now — biotech going to be biggest driver of longevity. We’re made of biology! What other tech could it be ?.
Don’t Die at SynBioBeta 2025! Join @bryan_johnson and @Jrkelly (@Ginkgo), as they discuss how synthetic biology intertwines with longevity. Peek into a future where aging might just be a choice. #InnovateLongevity #SynBioBeta2025. Learn More:
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Families make big sacrifices to support the people in their lives. It was so wonderful to have the kids ring the bell at @NYSE today. @Ginkgo belongs to the bioworkers and their families ❤️🧬🦖 $DNA.
One small bell, one giant moment for bioworkers. If we can rewrite the DNA of organisms, what will we do with the power we have to write the future of biology? . Ginkgo's bioworkers built this platform, and they're building it for everyone, so we can write that future together.
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Thrilled to expand w/ @Merck ! . Once you start w/ @Ginkgo’s platform there are often other areas it could be applied to as well. We ❤️ finding those w/ customers !. @Ginkgo can support manufacturing optimization or discovery in cell Tx, gene Tx, RNA or biologics. Reach out!.
Today we’re pleased to announce a new collaboration with @Merck focused on improving biologic manufacturing. Find out more:.
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So excited these are on sale today!! First fragrance products from @arcaeabeauty -- six new fragrances based on scents resurrected from extinct flowers!! 🌹🌷🌼🌸🪷🧬🧬🧬. Can buy them here before the first batch is gone😀:.
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“The future of investing is investing in the future” - @CathieDWood dropping some knowledge at @Ginkgo Ferment 🙌🙌🙌
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Excited to share data showing @ginkgo platform applied to discovering next-gen CARs for use in cancer immunotherapy. Come visit our poster on Friday at #SITC2022 @sitcancer !! If you are at a biopharma company you can access this as a service now!
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Well this did some numbers. I guess some folks in biotech would rather not climb under a rock and die after all :). We should remember to tell people that! not everyone has given up. If the biotech industry doesn't remind people that we aren't afraid to try big things even.
Counterpoint -- Lilly and Novo added about $1T in market cap in the last 5 years on the back of a single consumer biotech product. Human health and longevity is the largest market in the entire world, hands down. Would you pay more than you pay Apple every year to live longer,.
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We need persistent viral monitoring like we watch for hurricanes so we know when something big is brewing and can prepare. (And to know when it’s nothing to worry about and we can ignore). Right now we are largely flying blind so swing from ignorance of risk to panic and back.
A person in Mexico died after contracting a type of bird flu (H5N2) that hasn’t been lab-confirmed in humans before, according to the @WHO. BREAKING: .via @business with @jessicanix_ #h5n2.
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When @reshmapshetty, @bcanton, Austin & @tomknightsynbio and I first met at MIT 20 years ago, we were fascinated by the promise of synthetic biology. We started @Ginkgo to make biology easier to engineer. It's been a joy to build this with people I care about so much.
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Don’t sleep on the bioengineers all you /acc’s.
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One of the biggest challenges in biotech today is that R&D work is largely done with monolithic, internal infrastructure that changes slowly. Biotech companies want to develop a new therapeutic, plant trait, animal free meat, or other amazing product so they grab the tools of.
Buckle up — we’ve got a lot of exciting news to share today!. Introducing Ginkgo’s Technology Network: a groundbreaking ecosystem of cutting edge technology partners, all committed to collaborating with Ginkgo to provide new, integrated capabilities to drive success in customer
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Modular lab automation lovers -- new case studies just dropped! ✨🤖🧪. 1. NGS library prep - see how we miniaturized (100-fold) and adapted the Illumina DNA Prep workflow to be end-to-end executed on @Ginkgo's RAC platform, including upstream microbial cell lysis, thereby
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GLP-1 drugs are most important consumer product since the iPhone.
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Today, @Ginkgo announced a free 5-week classroom testing pilot for 100s of schools. As part of the pilot, we’ll provide all the materials schools need to collect and ship samples, alongside in-depth onboarding support, and lab processing power and data return at no cost. 🧵.
Classroom testing can offer districts the population-level data they need to make informed public health decisions at a fraction of the cost of individual testing. Today, we announced a free 5-week pooled testing pilot for 100s of schools. Join us at
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Thrilled to announce our newest cell program with Bolt Threads! Bolt is the industry-defining company bringing biotech into the textiles industry: 🍄leather and 🕷️🦠silk!! It is a dream to be working with @dwidmaier and the team! 🧵
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Big Green is going to look a bit different from Big Blue $DNA 🧬🧬🦖🦖
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Great article by @ericschmidt about the work we are doing at the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotech @biotech_gov ! 🇺🇸🧬. AI models trained on large DNA datasets + labeled data about how that DNA performs in cells will have a "ChatGPT moment" once they hit a certain.
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Yeah agree w/ @patrickc - SF startup culture doesn’t encourage the pursuit of really deep technical depth but does celebrate breaking w accepted wisdom to do something radically new. Boston culture is sort of the opposite - deep technical depth is lionized and doing something.
"I wonder for people in their 20s if they shouldn't go to San Francisco. The entrepreneurs are held in excessively high regard in my view. I think that San Francisco doesn't really encourage the pursuit of really deep technical depth.". - @patrickc . Full episode out tomorrow
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Jennifer Doudna at @RecursionPharma event -- we can engineer plants to grow faster, capture more carbon. Strong agree, tons we can do with plants. Biggest blocker is regulatory — time to fix it w the new admin and get ag biotech startups going again in the midwest.
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In case you don't follow APHIS regulatory releases:. ✨🌱🌟🌱. Congrats Keith & Light Bio! These glowing petunias are so damn cool. They will inspire a new generation of genetic engineers. Should be in every classroom!. Sign up!.
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If you💚synthetic biology go watch @VesperMovie now. I hope bioworks at @ginkgo look like her lab someday. Tools to design biology will become more biological over time-of course they will! And Vesper would def win @IGEM. Thank you @KristinaBuozyte and @brunosamper, it's a dream
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USG 🇺🇸 should do Operation Warp Speed programs for fusion, AI, synthetic life, carbon sequestration, adv batteries, solar, and any other real tech needed this century. Guarantee purchases, fund starting scaleup, and let market decide winning tech. Formula works,we can lead here🌎.
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Thrilled to expand our relationship with @novonordisk !. Ginkgo’s platform can be applied to many aspects of biotechnology from optimizing manufacturing to drug discovery - excited for this model where Novo’s scientists can easily apply our tech in a flexible way as their needs.
We’re excited to announce the expansion of our strategic partnership with global healthcare leader @novonordisk under a framework agreement that initially is contemplated to run over five years.
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Just like AI, synthetic biology (#SB) will impact many aspects of our lives and it’s only getting started. I’m honored to have been selected by @RepMikeRogersAL to serve on the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. 🧵.
Today, Ranking Member @RepMikeRogersAL announced that he has selected @RepBice and @jrkelly to serve on the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. Read more here ⬇️.
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I'm looking foward to SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) in San Diego on Mon and Tues! @Ginkgo will have a working setup of the new model of our modular RACs (reconfigurable automation carts) at our booth. If you'd like to chat with me in person, I'd love
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Great comments from @JTLonsdale in 🧵below - underscored by Pfizer acquiring rights to a Chinese biotech drug for $1.2B just yesterday. This is money that would normally flow into the US drug discovery startup ecosystem — we’re going to lose our biotech industry soon if we don’t
The CCP steals a lot of our IP, including defense and AI breakthroughs—but now it’s aiming for a whole sector: biotech. Their unethical actions are already decimating US biotech investment; we face a serious crisis. Here’s what’s on the line—and how we can fight back. 🧵
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New antibiotics on the shelf are biosecurity assets not really therapeutics. Funding for their development should be coming in part from the defense budget given the proven national security risk of infectious disease.
More than 1 million people are dying each year from antibiotic resistance, considered a global health emergency. The pharma industry is doing little to respond. Thankfully academic labs, using A.I. and structure-based discovery, are kicking in. My summary Table of recent progress
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Great meeting today of the national security commission on emerging biotech !🇺🇸. Thanks to @ebenbayer and @ecovative for mushroom-packaging lined case (so soft!!) and mushroom leather handled gavel!! 🍄And to @Biomason for the bioconcrete block to hit! 🦠 worked perfect !😄🙌🙌🙌
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🚨🧬🌱big announcement!🚨🧬🌱 . Taking steps today towards our end-to-end offering at @ginkgo $DNA in the Agricultural Biologicals space! If you are developing microbes 🦠 to improve yield, sustainability, crop protection, carbon fix, or anything else in Ag - Give us a call!🧵.
Happy 🌎 Earth 🌍 Day 🌏! . We’re excited to announce plans to significantly expand our platform capabilities in agricultural biologicals from discovery to field:.
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Excited to launch our newest service -- Ginkgo Datapoints! 🧬⚗️🧪. Over the past 10 years @Ginkgo has built a ton of amazing technologies from automation to long DNA construction to complex -omics to proprietary data and AI assets. These tools had been kept in-house and only
Today, we’re proud to announce the launch of Ginkgo Datapoints to usher in the next era of biotechnology by making the training of AI models easier and more efficient.
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Excited to have new capital to expand our cell programming platform ! And to bring on great new investors like @TRowePrice! Can't wait for all the future synbio apps we can't even think of yet ! 😀 🦖
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Great spending the last 2 days in Tokyo with the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. 🇺🇸🧬🇯🇵. My takeaways:. 1. Impressive to see the investment from METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry) with their biomanufacturing revolution fund ($2.3B USD) and
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Good Q from @aryelipman below on why life sciences automation sucks👇. One of my favorite topics so here is my 2 cents. The first thing is that much of biotech research as done today is low throughput by design. You read a lot of literature, design a thoughtful hypothesis, run.
life sciences automation seems to only be working in limited use cases (unless I'm missing it) - companies have burned a lot of cash on robots that sit idle. what's next / where is the opportunity here?.
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One of the reasons I love @ginkgo being a broad platform for engineering cells is the huge range of potential applications for biotechnology. As lab automation, large data assets, and AI greatly improve our ability to design DNA expect more surprising apps ! 🧊🧬🧊.
We're pleased to share that Ginkgo has been awarded up to $6 million from @DARPA to produce novel proteins to control ice in extreme cold weather environments.
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Fortunate to have @ARPA_HDirector and @DrewEndy join us to kick off the first meeting of 2024 of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotech !! 🇺🇸🧬. Inspiriting for the commissioners to hear how great a biodesigned future could be and how USG could make it happen!
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Super excited to be launching public data sets on commercially interesting treatments and human cell lines and making available to folks training AI models in biology. Please download below and play around ! We can also make custom sets for your cell line or perturbation of
Today we're releasing the GDPx2 dataset! 934 GB of RNA-seq data for 4 human cell lines with 15 drug treatments at 6 concentrations. We're excited to see what the Bio AI community can do with this data. And if you want more, reach out to Ginkgo Datapoints!.
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