Ginkgo Bioworks, Sumitomo Chemical announce expanded partnership

Sumitomo Chemical and Ginkgo Bioworks announced a new program to develop functional chemicals with synthetic biology and expand upon the companies’ existing biomanufacturing partnership. Sumitomo Chemical and Ginkgo Bioworks have been collaborating since 2021 using Ginkgo’s synthetic biology platform for the production of products in industries ranging from personal care and cosmetics, to agriculture and pharma. This announcement marks the start of a third project between the companies which aims to enable the mass production of functional chemicals via fermentation. As part of this latest project, Ginkgo Bioworks plans to utilize its strain design technology to develop a microbial strain and related fermentation process to produce the target molecule, while Sumitomo Chemical will develop the manufacturing process and its scale-up for commercialization. By mass-producing the functional chemicals through microbial fermentation instead of traditional fossil fuel-based chemical synthesis, the companies aim to provide products with a lower carbon footprint that contribute toward a carbon-neutral society.