S154: Automated Strain Engineering: a foray into industrial synthetic biology

At the heart of synthetic biology is the idea that modification of living organisms can be achieved through systematic design and manufacture of DNA parts and constructs of predictable biological functions. At Amyris we employ industrial-scale synthetic biology at the service of pathway engineering for the production of fuels and chemicals in yeast. Specifically, for the past 3 years we have developed and deployed Automated Strain Engineering (ASE), now our bedrock parallel DNA construction platform for introducing any targeted genetic perturbations (gene expression, mutation, deletion) capable of producing >1000 unique genotypes/month. In this talk we will describe the technology aspects of ASE (computer-aided design, molecular biology construction, automation) as well as its operational aspects (logistics, quality control, maintenance of strain bank). Continuous investment in ASE technology and infrastructure has enabled 100-fold increase in capacity for creating improved yeast strains.