Ginkgo Bioworks, the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, announced the launch of its Cell Development Kits (CDKs) service. 

CDKs provide streamlined access to the company's platform to aspiring cell developers looking to tackle the biggest challenges of our time through cell programming. 

The first CDKs will be focused on protein expression programs. They include all developers need to get started developing commercial proteins: pre-engineered host cells optimized for protein production, specialized equipment, automation capabilities, genetic engineering expertise, insights garnered from Ginkgo's codebase and the applicable infrastructure to design, build and test a custom microbe.

Ginkgo's CDKs are designed to cut the cost of launching a cell program and speed up development timelines of engineered microbes, for example, by determining whether a protein may be successfully and commercially produced. The service is also designed to enable customers to build a prototype with the right data to inform their project and business strategy at each stage. CDKs can help lower risk on projects before full scale development with a simplified and low-cost approach.

"We believe engineering biology holds tremendous potential to revolutionize industries, and our customers are using it to develop solutions ranging from alternative food proteins and vaccine ingredients to biodegradable plastics and sustainable chemicals," said Jason Kelly, CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. "But biology is still complex and highly variable, making the barrier to entry too high for many researchers, entrepreneurs and dreamers out there with an idea they want to bring to the world. By providing them with the resources to realize their proof of concept, we're able to support the synthetic biology ecosystem to keep pushing the envelope on innovation."

Ginkgo's platform enables biotechnology applications across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals. Ginkgo has also actively supported a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including K-12 pooled testing, vaccine manufacturing optimization and therapeutics discovery.

If you are a developer interested in learning more about being in the next batch of CDK projects to launch, reach out to the Ginkgo team: visit ginkgobioworks.com or click on the button below.