Successfully developed the first domestic equipment! This Tianjin company is running at "China speed" on the global DNA synthesis technology track!

Deoxyribonucleic acid, referred to as DNA, is like a mysterious and exquisite codebook of life, hiding the core secrets of biological inheritance.

Synthetic DNA is regarded as the "Lego building blocks" for building a new life system. As synthetic biology enters the "engineering" and "industrialization" stages, how to achieve DNA synthesis in a more efficient, lower cost, stronger throughput, and more environmentally friendly manner has become a common challenge for the global scientific research community and industry.

Tianjin Zhonghe Gene Technology Co., Ltd., founded only 4 years ago, has developed the world's leading enzymatic DNA biosynthesis technology, successfully developed the first set of DNA biosynthesizers and gene splicers in China, and has achieved "China speed" on the global DNA synthesis technology track.

Every "Jincai" dialogue is a true record of the glory of private enterprises. In this issue of "Jincai Interview·Private Enterprises Are in Their Highlights", host Zhao Wei talks to Sun Jun, chairman and general manager of Tianjin Zhonghe Gene Technology Co., Ltd.

From a scientific researcher in a university to the person in charge of corporate R&D, and then starting a new business as an entrepreneur, 45-year-old Sun Jun has never given up on his pursuit of "making something useful, useful to society, useful to life and human health."

In 2008, Sun Jun, who completed five years of master's and doctoral studies at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, chose to continue his studies at Cornell University in the United States. Five years later, when she returned to China from Cornell University, she faced two choices: one was to enter a scientific research institute and continue to engage in scientific research; the other was to enter a company to transform scientific research results into specific products and serve the market. "I want to know how the research and technology I did in the laboratory were transformed, and what kind of value it can bring to how many people?" In the end, Sun Jun chose to go to Shenzhen BGI to develop genetic testing products, and he has been doing this for more than ten years.

BGI's experience in independently developing gene sequencers had a great impact on Sun Jun. She said that she initially did application development on imported genetic sequencers from overseas, and did not realize that the tool layer was very important. Later, the disadvantages of genetic sequencers being controlled overseas emerged: the other party can increase prices, control prices, and squeeze after-sales services, which will control the development direction of your product and even determine how far your product can go. Therefore, no matter how well the application is developed, the equipment layer and tool layer are controlled by others and can easily be blocked. This is what my country often calls the "stuck neck" problem. Therefore, in 2022, Sun Jun resolutely entered a new track with the experience and resources of more than ten years of applied research at BGI. Start building a DNA synthesizer.

Sun Jun said that in the current stage where we can create life, transform life, and allow life to achieve production purposes according to needs and ideas, DNA synthesizers are the underlying equipment and "stuck" equipment at this stage, with lower cost, better quality, faster speed, and greener environmental protection. I hope to contribute my own strength at this stage so that my country's biological industry can have domestically produced and useful equipment.

Tianjin proposed that the scale of the biomanufacturing industry during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period should exceed 100 billion yuan. Zhonghe Gene also proposed the goal of becoming a leader in enzymatic DNA synthesis technology and a pioneer in the underlying core equipment of synthetic biology. In this regard, Sun Jun said that the mission of Zhonghe Gene is to "synthesize the future". Every time I see these four words, my heart is full of excitement and passion.

Zhonghe Gene was hatched from the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and at that time it was stuck on papers and two patents. Nowadays, the technology has been transformed from the laboratory into equipment that can be sold to the market and provide DNA products for DNA synthesis. Looking forward to the next ten years, Sun Jun hopes that enzymatic DNA synthesis technology can enter thousands of households, so that everyone can produce DNA and genes in a more environmentally friendly, lower-cost, higher-throughput and better way, so that all laboratories and units can have their own DNA, gene synthesis, and life code synthesis capabilities anytime, anywhere, very conveniently.