Matthew Nelson
Lygos, a California-based biological engineering firm, has partnered with Agile BioFoundry to develop technology under a $2M grant from the Department of Energy that will analyze data from multiple fields of biology to gain new ideas for microbial engineering research.
In order to support future scientific research, the aim of the partnership is to create new machine learning and artificial intelligence methods, the company said Monday.
Lygos specializes in converting easily-accessible biological material into high-performance chemicals in order to provide eco-friendly alternatives to existing industrial chemicals.
“The evolutionary complexity of biological systems makes microbes inherently difficult to engineer using traditional, scientist-driven hypothesis testing alone,†said Hector Martin, a scientist at Agile BioFoundry.
Martin added that ABF’s partnership with Lygos will help the entities find ways to rewire microbes for chemical biosynthesis.
ABF is an organization comprised of eight DOE national laboratories that aims to grow biomanufacturing processes within the private and public sectors.
