Our Community & Philanthropy
Twist has joined Life Science Cares to make a positive impact in our communities and donated to the SF Bay Area chapter to address poverty and inequality in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Philadelphia, and San Diego. LS Cares focuses on three fundamental gaps: survival, education, and sustainability.
Life Science Cares Bay Area
Twist is a part of the Life Science Cares (LS Cares) initiative, a group of companies in the life science industry aiming to tackle poverty and inequality in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Philadelphia, and San Diego regions. As a part of our commitment, our employees have the opportunity to engage with impactful partner organizations. Moving forward, we will continue to partner with LS Cares to identify opportunities to get involved with partner organizations throughout their network. LS Cares focuses on addressing three fundamental gaps: survival, education, and sustainability.
International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation
Twist Bioscience has been a strong supporter of iGEM, a global synthetic biology competition that initially focused on undergraduate students but has since expanded to include divisions for high school students, entrepreneurs, community laboratories, and beyond. As a supporter, Twist has revolutionized the way iGEM competition teams contribute to the Registry of Standard Biological Parts, a free online database for synthetic biologists. Now, teams can simply submit their part sequences and documentation to the Registry, and Twist will synthesize samples of these parts for the upcoming year’s competition. In addition to synthesizing the parts, Twist generously offers all iGEM teams 10,000 bases of DNA to support their projects.
STEMconnector and BioMADE Bioindustrial Manufacturing (Made in the USA)
Twist was featured in STEMconnector’s new ebook. This ebook explores the people and companies driving innovations with the potential to feed, fuel, and build a more sustainable ecofriendly world. Advancements in biotechnology and bioindustrial manufacturing are driving improvements in manufacturing efficiency and reducing the use and reliance of petrochemicals for producing fuel and consumer products. The bioeconomy is poised for enormous growth over the coming decades, driving increased demand for a diverse STEMskilled workforce. Career opportunities abound in bioindustrial manufacturing to create new products that will reduce our carbon footprint, expand U.S. manufacturing, and accelerate our economy.
BioBuilder Educational Foundation
We had a wonderful group of Twisters participate in career conversations with high school students enrolled in the Innovation Career Pathways Program in Worcester, MA. The Innovation Pathways Program is a Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education funded program to expand career exploration for high school students in Worcester public schools.
“In partnership with Worcester Public Schools in Worcester, MA, BioBuilder’s Innovation Pathway curricula promoted development of career- and technical-skill readiness in Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing. The students applied their growing understanding and technical skills to a semester long lab experiment, integrating industry-standard professional practices and ways of thinking into their research.”
Eastside College Preparatory School
We are proud partners with Eastside.org for the Eastside Internship Program which resulted in access to a diverse, deep talent pool and successful hire of a talented HR intern. Eastside is a college preparatory program focused on working with historically underrepresented populations offering a rigorous curriculum while providing extensive educational coaching, career development opportunities, and support for students throughout their highschool and college careers. 98% of the students are first generation college students.
InnovATEBIO National Biotechnology Summit
Two Twisters participated in the Oregon state task force team at InnovATEBIO’s Envisioning the Next Bioscience Workforce Summit on Industry Trends and Needs in Washington D.C. The state task force teams brought together government, education, and industry representatives across the nation to collaboratively address industry diversity and equity challenges, employment gaps, community college program needs, and develop a state workforce ecosystem map to propel the work to drive biotechnology education forward.
The InnovATEBIO National Biotechnology Education Center is focused on advancing education to train highly skilled biotechnicians to meet the critical demands of the nation’s biotechnology workforce by providing curricula, sharing resources, and monitoring and addressing industry workforce trends.
Supporting effective educational programs through volunteer and
mentoring opportunities
We have expanded our work and partnerships with community colleges to encompass career technical programs nationally. Twist commits to sharing insightful industry perspectives with community college advisory boards to help shape and inform curricula and the development of career technical education programs. Twisters provide mentorship for students by participating in mock interviews, critiquing student resumes and cover letters, hosting career panel discussions, and providing industry presentations.
Race & Ethnicity at Twist
Since our founding, diversity has been very important to Twist. As of October 15, 2020, our data show that we are made up of 9% Latinx, 3% Black, 4% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 39% Asian, 7% Two or More Races, and several American Indian/ Alaskan Native Twisters. Our executives also come from diverse backgrounds, with many born outside of the US.
Employee Engagement
Twist conducts an annual employee engagement survey focused on cultural consistency to measure and observe the alignment between culture and behavior; to measure the day-to-day behaviors of employees and to rigorously determine how they drive the success of the organization.
Our executive leadership team has identified specific initiatives for each department based on feedback from our annual employee engagement survey. Each executive is responsible for achieving one key objective that aligns with their department’s goals and supports our efforts to improve employee engagement. To foster open communication and engagement, Twist hosts all-company meetings twice a month and monthly managers meetings, where the CEO facilitates Q&A sessions with employees. We also maintain a robust intranet platform that provides regular updates about company activities and events. “The Strand” is where Twisters frequently visit to stay informed about everything that is happening.
Women at Twist
We are very proud of the fact that there is no glass ceiling for women at Twist.
As of September 30, 2022, our Board of Directors is made up of 33% women; our CEO is a woman; our executive team is comprised of 39% women. Women make up 37% of our revenue-generating positions and are present throughout every level of the organization.
How our Work Impacts the World
Our mission is to make synthetic DNA to improve health and sustainability. By taking a technology approach to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of DNA synthesis we enable our customers a more sustainable way to design, build, test, and commercialize future therapeutics, diagnostic tests, agricultural products, materials, biobased chemicals, and data storage solutions.
Our ESG Program
If you have ESG related questions, or would like to learn more about Twist Bioscience’s ESG program
