Biology by Design: Bioengineering & Biosecurity Approaches at Ginkgo Bioworks

Patrick Boyle is the Head of Codebase at Ginkgo Bioworks, a Boston-based synthetic biology company that makes and sells engineered organisms. Patrick is responsible for Ginkgo’s Codebase, the company’s complete portfolio of reusable biological assets. Codebase includes novel strains, enzymes, genetic parts, and diverse genetic repositories, including millions of engineered DNA sequences. Codebase is being developed, maintained, and leveraged by Ginkgo’s Organism Engineers via dozens of strain engineering projects. Prior to leading Codebase, Patrick founded the Design group at Ginkgo, which now produces hundreds of millions of base pairs of DNA designs each year to support Ginkgo’s projects. At present, more than 30% of the world’s DNA synthesis is performed for work at Ginkgo.

Patrick also participates in a number of efforts related to the broader development of synthetic biology and biosecurity. This includes a fellowship in the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security Initiative, serving as a Technical Advisor to the Synthetic Biology for Military Environments program for the Department of Defense, and co-authoring the 2018 “Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology” report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Prior to Ginkgo, Patrick received his PhD from Harvard Medical School in 2012, developing synthetic biology applications in bacteria, yeast, and plants in the lab of Dr. Pamela Silver. He received an SB in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006.