De novo DNA synthesis Updated 2025-07-16
As of 2018, Ciro Santilli believes that this could be the next big thing in biology technology.
"De novo" means "starting from scratch", that is: you type the desired sequence into a computer, and the synthesize it.
The "de novo" part is important, because it distinguishes this from the already well solved problem of duplicating DNA from an existing DNA template, which is what all our cells do daily, and which can already be done very efficiently in vitro with polymerase chain reaction.
Notably, the dream of most of those companies is to have a machine that sits on a lab bench, which synthesises whatever you want.
TODO current de novo synthesis costs/time to delivery after ordering a custom sequence.
The initial main applications are likely going to be:
but the real pipe dream is building and bootstraping entire artificial chromosomes
News coverage:
Video 1.
Nuclera eDNA enzymatic de novo DNA synthesis explanatory animation (2021)
Source. The video shows nicely how Nuclera's enzymatic DNA synthesis works:
Job application by Ciro Santilli Created 2025-04-18 Updated 2025-08-08
2025 round one during week of April 21st, not toning down online profiles:
Big tech:
* Google. Many jobs in London, nothing in Paris. www.google.com/about/careers/applications/jobs/results
* www.google.com/about/careers/applications/jobs/results/91141790538572486-senior-software-engineer-google-pixel-graphics Senior Software Engineer, Google Pixel Graphics. Went through entire interview process but LeetCode not good enough. Non-Leetcode went great.
* www.google.com/about/careers/applications/jobs/results/96937277808091846-senior-software-engineer-pixel-graphics-gpu-software Senior Software Engineer, Pixel Graphics, GPU Software
* 2025-07-22 www.google.com/about/careers/applications/jobs/results/113249786332619462-senior-software-engineer Senior Software Engineer, TPU Performance, Hardware/Software Co-Design. Hopeless but one must try.
* Amazon, focusing on AWS of course. Lots of jobs in London, nothing in Paris: www.amazon.jobs/en-gb/
* 2025-06-20
* www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/2915117/software-development-engineer-aws-uk Software Development Engineer, AWS Utility Computing
* www.amazon.jobs/en-gb/jobs/2884321/systems-development-engineer-database-services Systems Development Engineer, Database Services. Rejected two days later on a Sunday, nice.
* www.amazon.jobs/en-gb/jobs/2530616/senior-systems-development-engineer Senior Systems Development Engineer
* www.amazon.jobs/en-gb/jobs/2902679/senior-systems-engineer Senior Systems Engineer
* Apple Inc., focusing on low level and or embedded bullshit just to see if they give interviews:
* jobs.apple.com/en-gb/details/200523081/swe-kernel-engineer-coreos
* jobs.apple.com/en-gb/details/200577840/gpu-driver-engineer-kernel-firmware first received an email saying I would get an interview. But then they 180'ed a few hours later with some excuse. But the job announcement was still up.
* jobs.apple.com/en-gb/details/200604360/virtualisation-engineer
* Microsoft: a few jobs in London, very few in Paris
* Facebook: several boring jobs in London, a few research jobs in Paris
Keywords: