IDT opens new synthetic biology manufacturing facility

Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) recently announced the opening of a new 25,000 ft² plant for synthetic biology products.

Proximate to IDT’s flagship U.S. headquarters in Coralville, Iowa, the facility doubles IDT’s synthetic biology footprint, according to a May 28 news release. IDT officials see it furthering the company’s gene synthesis portfolio with differentiated offerings of gene and gene fragments.

Integrated DNA Technologies recently launched a  custom vector onboarding tool that enables researchers to skip in-house cloning steps and move quickly into functional studies with 100% sequence-verified clonal DNA. IDT is a large-scale provider of synthetic DNA, making gene fragments between 125 bp to 3 kb, and custom genes from 25 bp to over 5 kb.

Synthetic biology lab spaces make up more than half of the new facility, which also includes office and conference rooms, amenities, onsite dedicated support resources, and additional space for future expansion.

“The expansion of our synthetic biology manufacturing operations adds significant capacity for IDT and lays the foundation for the future growth of our synthetic biology product portfolio,” IDT President Demaris Mills said in the news release.

“With this increased footprint, we will be introducing new product enhancements, which will include the launch of a rapid gene synthesis offering expected in late Q2. This investment provides IDT with a growth runway for its synthetic biology product portfolio and manufacturing arm to support the rapidly expanding global DNA synthesis market and related drug development activity.”