Emily Leproust Reflects on Twist Bioscience’s Grit in the Face of a Challenging 2021

In this article, Emily Leproust, Twist Bioscience CEO, reflects on the resilience of science and the achievements that give her hope for a brighter future.

“To be blunt, 2021 was a herculean challenge. Amidst the fluid and unpredictable environment that accompanies the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, people, science and business had to show grit and resilience in order to forge ahead.

But as I look back on the year, I don’t just see one marked by lockdowns and case numbers. I see one filled with incredible scientific achievements. Billions of people around the world have been protected from the effects of severe COVID-19 by vaccines that didn’t exist a year and a half ago. This alone is a stunning scientific success story, and one that was only possible thanks to decades of innovative research in fields like virology, genetics, and synthetic biology.

At Twist Bioscience, we’re also no strangers to a challenge. When Bill Banyai, Bill Peck, and I founded Twist Bioscience back in 2013, we did so with the belief that synthetic DNA would be critical to solving many of the world’s biggest challenges. So when it became clear that SARS-CoV-2 would be one of these challenges, I’m proud to say that Twist and its employees stepped up to the plate in early 2020, and we’ve continued our commitment to fight the pandemic throughout 2021. Powered by synthetic DNA we have continued to innovate on solutions that support the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

"Twist continues its commitment to arm researchers"

Our ongoing production of synthetic controls that resemble SARS-CoV-2 variants enables researchers to rapidly develop and validate molecular diagnostic tests. Just weeks after the Omicron variant was identified, we launched a new control for this variant. Twist continues its commitment to arm researchers with the tools to fight this rapidly evolving threat.

We’ve also taken large strides in developing candidate SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, and did so in a remarkably short amount of time. Our anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody has been shown to neutralize all tested variants of the virus in preclinical studies. To build on this momentum, and to bring this promising therapeutic into clinical trials in 2022, we have just launched Revelar Biotherapeutics. Now more than ever, these are achievements worth celebrating.

Despite the pandemic, the scientific output from the biotech, biopharma, genomics and synthetic biology communities has been nothing short of remarkable. More than 500 research papers were published this year using Twist’s Synthetic DNA tools. Some impressive papers I have seen include innovations ranging from using artificial intelligence for better antibody engineering to precise single-base editing in plants.

This year alone Twist has continued to grow its core business while launching new solutions to help improve the accuracy of liquid biopsies in detecting specific oncogenes and variants, partnered with New England Biolabs to enable sensitive analyses of the human methylome, and worked with collaborators through the IARPA MIST program to improve DNA data storage capabilities by 100x.And, as 2022 begins, we start it off with a bang by introducing our new enzymatic DNA synthesis process which enables low cost, scarless and scalable enzymatic DNA synthesis.

"As we've grown,
we've prioritized sustainability"

In addition to scientific achievement, Twist also grew considerably. We hired 283 new employees, opened offices in Shanghai & Beijing, and broke ground on a new factory in Portland Oregon. Twist Biopharma also expanded its expertise and capabilities with the acquisition of Abveris, bringing mouse-based discovery and screening expertise into the Twist ecosystem, and formed partnerships with collaborators like Boehringer Ingelheim, Kyowa Kirin GPCR, and Sosei Group Corporation to accelerate the development of biotherapeutics.

I’m also proud to say that as we’ve grown we’ve prioritized sustainability in our technology and operations. Through our Kimberly-Clark plastic recycling program, for example, we diverted more than 7,000 lbs of plastic waste from landfills in 2021. We also changed our packaging to a part-recycled construction that is more optimized, generating significantly less cardboard waste, and requiring less dry ice while still keeping our customers' orders safe. Additionally, we’ve continued our investment in future scientists, providing each team of high school and undergraduate students competing in the iGEM competition 10,000 bases of DNA.

I am immensely proud of how Twist and its employees live out our guiding principles of Grit, Service, Trust, and Impact every day. We’ve spent almost a decade taking on challenges and overcoming them, and are ready for another incredible year in 2022. The rise of the omicron variant reminds us that this new year will bring with it a unique set of obstacles. But the success we’ve seen this year, the partnerships we’ve formed, and the team we’ve built fill me with confidence to continue facing whatever challenges the next year holds head on.”