Synthetic Genomics uses techniques such as software engineering, bioprocessing, bioinformatics, biodiscovery, analytical chemistry, fermentation, cell optimization, and DNA synthesis to design and build biological systems.
The company produces or performs research in the fields of sustainable bio-fuels, insect resistant crops, transplantable organs, targeted medicines, DNA synthesis instruments as well as a number of biological reagents.
Some of these research partnerships include: Synthetic Genomics was founded in the spring of 2005 by J. Craig Venter, Nobel Laureate Hamilton O. Smith, Juan Enriquez, and David Kiernan.
[13][14] The company purchased an 81-acre site (33 ha) in the Imperial Valley in Southern California to produce algae fuel for their collaboration with Exxon Mobil.
[15] They also signed a collaborative agreement with New England Biolabs to Launch Gibson Assembly Master Mix Product for Synthetic and Molecular Biology Applications in 2012.