Case Study: Microsoft achieves accelerated DBTL cycles and automated genetic workflows with Synthace's Antha

Construct Assembly with Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research Cambridge needed to speed up and close the digital-to-physical loop of its Design‑Build‑Test‑Learn (DBTL) workflow for engineering synthetic genetic networks, removing manual bottlenecks in construct assembly, transformation and assay setup so they could iterate faster and collect structured data for modelling. To do this they partnered with Synthace and adopted its laboratory automation software Antha to provide digitally encoded, reproducible protocols and flexible control of liquid‑handling platforms as part of their Station B prototype.

Synthace delivered Antha‑driven workflows that auto‑generated and executed Type IIS construct assembly, transformation, plating and cellular bioassays from Microsoft’s digital designs. Using Antha Microsoft built and tested 12 five‑part constructs end‑to‑end in about 50 minutes (each assembly yielding 50–500 colonies), ran 30 assay conditions producing 360 time‑course datasets, increased walk‑away time and reproducibility, and enabled Bayesian/ML parameterization of genetic network models to accelerate subsequent DBTL iterations.

Microsoft