AI techniques have been leveraged that combine known biophysical, machine learning, and reinforcement learning models to effectively predict the constructs' impact on the host and vice versa, but there is much room for improvement.

Synthetic biology ("synbio") initially attracted high-profile venture capitalists and corporate partnerships for its products – bio-based chemicals and alternative fuels, for example. Today, synbio companies tools are attracting attention as well – from lab automation like DNA synthesis-as-a-service, to software (i.e. By integrating machine-learning, robotics, and high-throughput engineering, companies like Ginkgo Bioworks and Zymergen are helping customers dramatically reduce the timeline for developing new molecules in the flavor and fragrance, food ingredient, medical, agricultural, and specialty chemicals markets – a key reason that those two startups each raised more than $100 million in 2016. This podcast highlights Lux's thoughts on the impact of these tools in and beyond in synbio, and the rapidly developing ecosystem of startups within the space.