Writing DNA with a twist

Although advances in DNA sequencing have reduced costs and increased speed for reading genetic material, methods for writing genes have not improved at the same pace. Twist Bioscience Corp. wants to change that with a 10,000-well silicon chip platform it thinks can make de novo gene synthesis faster and cheaper than the standard methods used by most providers.

Synthetic gene writing requires two separate steps: formation of short, single-stranded oligonucleotides as building blocks for genes; and combination and ordered linking of the oligos into double-stranded DNA sequences...