In 2012, Emily Leproust was trying to raise money to start Twist Bioscience, a company that aimed to synthesize DNA more quickly and more cheaply than existing methods allowed. But many investors were spooked by the perception that synthetic biology [http://www.nature.com/news/synthetic-biologists-seek-standards-for-nascent-field-1.17271] — the engineering of microorganisms to make useful products such as drugs [http://www.nature.com/news/engineered-yeast-paves-way-for-home-brew-heroin-1.17566], food ingredients and materials — would not turn a profit. “It was a lonely time,” Leproust recalls.