How Autonomous Labs Will Transform Scientific Research: Ginkgo Bioworks’ Jason Kelly
Jason Kelly founded Ginkgo Bioworks in 2008 with a simple but radical idea: DNA is code, and cells are programmable. Sixteen years later, AI is finally making that vision real in ways that could reshape science itself. Jason describes a landmark collaboration with OpenAI in which a reasoning model with access to a robotic lab beat the state of the art in biochemistry by 40% - not by being smarter than scientists, but by running experiments 24 hours a day and sharing data across a hundred parallel hypotheses simultaneously. He argues that the biggest inefficiency in science isn't intelligence, it's manual labor. Once AI helps scale research, the cost of discovery collapses and breakthroughs follow, with profound implications for biopharma, national competitiveness, and human health.
Hosted by Sonya Huang and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital
#174 CEO & Co-Founder Ginkgo Bioworks, Jason Kelly: Life Finds a Way
Guest: Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks
Almost everyone in the second generation of biotechnology entrepreneurs, says Ginkgo Bioworks CEO Jason Kelly, works in that field because of one thing: Jurassic Park. The Michael Crichton novel-turned-Steven Spielberg movie captured both the wonder and beauty of bioengineering, and the challenges of bending DNA to your own ends. “You didn’t invent biology,” Jason says. “You need to have humility in the face of it ... because life will find a way. It will do things you don’t expect. It’s not a computer.”
In this episode, Jason and Joubin discuss the Wall Street rollercoaster, designer cells, the history of biotech, Herbert Boyer and Genentech, ChatGPT, extinct flowers, Sam Altman and YCombinator, first principles thinking, compounding risk, Patrick Collison, super-voting shares, capital intensive businesses, Pets.com, and why biology is like “freakishly powerful alien technology.”
In this episode, we cover:
Being private vs. being public (00:58)
How bioengineering works (04:27)
Jurassic Park (08:51)
Biotech breakthroughs (12:15)
Why this field is not well-known yet (16:57)
“The ChatGPT moment for biotech” (22:05)
Meaningful stuff takes forever (26:23)
Ginkgo’s first five years (29:02)
Why the company went public (36:20)
Short sellers, Warren Buffett, and Elon Musk (42:08)
Applying AI to DNA engineering (47:57)
The long-term future (55:57)
Who Ginkgo is hiring (58:39)
Links:
Connect with JasonTwitter
LinkedIn
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
If DNA is Code, Can AI Help Write It? Scaling Cell Programming and Synthetic Biology, with Ginkgo Bioworks Co-founder and CEO Jason Kelly
Ginkgo Bioworks is using DNA as code to digitize the cell programming revolution. Ginkgo is using AI and synthetic biology to keep the next pandemic at bay, and accelerate our production capabilities for medicine, food, and agriculture. Ginkgo’s co-founder and CEO Jason Kelly joins hosts Sarah Guo and Elad Gil to discuss bioengineering protein as a foundational model, specialized data learning from an evolutionary perspective, what we need to prepare for a future pandemic, and more.
Jason has served as a member of our board of directors since Ginkgo’s founding in 2008. He has also served as a director of CM Life Sciences II Inc. (Nasdaq: CMII), a special purpose acquisition company with a focus on the life sciences sector, since its initial public offering in February 2021. Jason holds a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Show Links:
Jason Kelly - Co-founder & CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks | LinkedIn
Ginkgo Bioworks
The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma
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Show Notes:
(0:00:00) - The Difference Between Software Engineering and Biological Engineering
(0:06:51) - Abstractions and Infrastructure in Synthetic Bio
(0:09:23) - The Role of AI, Foundation Models that Speak Biology
(0:13:17) - AWS for Cell Engineering
(0:17:52) - Where are the AI-discovered Drugs? And Data at Gingko
(0:19:12) - Pandemic Response and Biosecurity in the Age of AI
(0:22:47) - The Likelihood of Existential AI Risk from Lone Actors Harnessing Viruses, and The Need for Defense-in-Depth
(0:31:47) - Will Progress in AI Be Biologically Inspired? And Evolution
How to nail Monthly Investor Updates (FounderU) + Ginkgo Bioworks CEO Jason Kelly | E1239
First Jason explains how to deliver great investor updates & the benefits of doing them well (1:36). Then, Ginkgo Bioworks CEO Jason Kelly joins to discuss the expanding capabilities of synthetic biology (24:48), how Ginkgo is currently helping customers make products more effectively (35:58), the ethics & risks of editing DNA (51:53) & more!
Moderna: The Software of Life - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 13]
Today, we will be diving into Moderna. Founded in 2010, Moderna and its innovative RNA platform made headlines after developing one of the first COVID vaccines. We treated this Breakdown slightly different than our other episodes. I’m joined today by two guests. First, I am joined by Jason Kelly, CEO of Gingko Bioworks. He gives us a primer on the biotech industry, genetic modification, and how Moderna’s platform represents a new breakthrough in the industry. Then, I talk to Matthew Harrison, a biotech analyst at Morgan Stanley. We will cover what differentiates Moderna’s business model, how Moderna’s science could lead to faster and higher efficacy drug development, and key takeaways for investors and operators. I hope you enjoy this Breakdown of Moderna.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.
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Show Notes - Part 1: Jason Kelly
[00:02:31] - [First question] - What is a biotech company?
[00:03:50] - Defining Moderna as a company in the biotech space
[00:05:15] - Bridging the gap between biotech and genentech
[00:06:02] - Overview of the history of learning to program cells
[00:07:46] - Big milestones from the discovery to the human genome project
[00:10:03] - Technical process and tool of how one modifies and copies genes
[00:11:45] - The scale and tools of modern DNA design
[00:14:05] - What the Moderna vaccine is and how it works
[00:17:24] - The first engineered drug of its kind
[00:18:24] - Other areas where synthetic biology appears in everyday life
[00:22:19] - How many sectors this type of technology will disrupt
[00:23:32] - The history of Moderna and how they came to be
[00:24:41] - What problem Moderna tries to solve and how they approach it
[00:27:11] - Unique deal components in therapeutics and the FDA
[00:29:06] - Key factors that will make Moderna a dominant player in the near future
[00:30:01] - How Genentech became as big as they did
[00:30:53] - Competitive and compounded advantages for biotech companies
[00:32:09] - Lessons for investors and entrepreneurs in studying Moderna’s story
Show Notes - Part 2: Matthew Harrison
[00:34:10] - What is Moderna and how it got started
[00:36:10] - Typical route taken for a drug maker and how Moderna is different
[00:37:16] - What separates Moderna from others in the biotech space today
[00:39:12] - The role software and technology has played a role in Moderna’s success
[00:41:42] - Cementing their position through breakthroughs and capitalizing on them
[00:42:58] - How Moderna generates their revenue
[00:44:45] - Overview of cost of sales, expense buckets and gross margin
[00:46:20] - Factors involved in how one valuates a biotech company
[00:47:15] - How many drugs are in Moderna’s pipeline compared to others
[00:51:26] - Risks of drug development and their market potential
[00:54:01] - Internal operations of drug development and what separates Moderna
[00:57:17] - Comparing Moderna’s mRNA to others on the market
[00:59:44] - High level breakdown of pharmaceutical R&D
[01:01:33] - Other P&L and financial components that arise given the nature of biotech
[01:03:09] - Contrast between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine
[01:04:18] - What Moderna will have to get right in order to become the next Pfizer
[01:05:38] - What Moderna would have to get wrong to limit their growth
[01:07:24] - Company culture and the importance of management
[01:08:06] - Lessons for builders and entrepreneurs in studying Moderna’s story