2023 Langer Prize Winner Presentation: Pseudo-Random Collisions: From Data Storage to the Synthesis of Modified DNA

There is a rapidly growing proportion of society positively impacted by the power to engineer DNA. Currently, the majority of applications are in native biological systems: in the development of therapeutics, in supporting basic and biomedical research and development, and in promoting the health of agricultural organisms. Yet, there are also intriguing abiotic impacts DNA could have including as the substrate for next generation data storage and computation. In this talk, I will describe some of the key questions we have tackled and new technologies developed that explore the power of DNA both within native biology and beyond. I will also focus on the role of random collisions of people, fields, and expertise in spurring much of the progress we have made. This includes our ongoing story of exploring the applied and commercial impact of technologies, and how we came to focus and distill a complex world of possibilities into the development of our first target commercial product.