Synthetic Biology Meets ITBT: What to Expect from the Convergence of Digital and Biological Innovation?

Beyond the founders’ vision and foresight, the birth and establishment of a company require numerous supporting elements to help it maintain stability in its initial steps. Among these, two are most critical: incubators that provide a platform for growth, and investment firms that contribute real capital and share risks with startups. For an emerging industry like synthetic biology, which is still in its early stages and striving to gain momentum, the present moment is precisely when it needs support the most.

Amid the ongoing digital transformation across the healthcare industry, synthetic biology is also being digitally reconfigured, forming its own industrial cluster under the overarching ITBT (Information Technology, Biotechnology, and Engineering) framework. The seamless integration between life systems based on the ATCG nucleotide code and digital systems driven by binary 0s and 1s enables the directed evolution of simple organisms.
Unlike other healthcare-related sectors, synthetic biology, as a foundational technology, has extended its industrial empowerment capabilities beyond the boundaries of life sciences, finding wide applications in diverse fields such as agriculture, chemical engineering, new energy, and new materials. As a clean and efficient production method, biosynthesis is gradually replacing chemical synthesis in certain scenarios, emerging as a refreshing force in the manufacturing industry.

With All Development Elements in Place, How Will Synthetic Biology Respond to the Expectations of the Times?？

VCBeat New Medicine and VCBeat Orange Bureau, in collaboration with the Shenzhen Engineering Biology Industry Innovation Center and FreeS Fund, have invited Ma Mingju, Head of the Shenzhen Engineering Biology Industry Innovation Center; Zhao Xin, Co-founder and CEO of Sinoseed Technology; and Ma Rui, Partner at FreeS Fund, to jointly discuss expectations for ITBT in synthetic biology.。

Ma Mingju, Head of the Shenzhen Engineering Biology Industry Innovation Center

Graduated from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath, UK, with a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry. Currently serves at the Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and holds the position of General Manager at Shenshen (Shenzhen) Engineering Biological Industry Technology Co., Ltd., overseeing comprehensive corporate management and overall strategic development.

Formerly Senior Partner and Chief Technology Officer at Zhongke Rongxin, General Manager of the Big Health Division and Director of R&D at Hong Kong Jiangyuan Group, and a key member of Jiangyuan Group’s Investment Decision Committee for the pharmaceutical and related industries.

With years of experience in professional investment, scientific research, and industrial operations, I have developed a systematic and practical approach to industry-academia-research collaboration. I specialize in biopharmaceuticals, chemical products, and marketing system construction, and am committed to fostering comprehensive technological cooperation and scientific innovation in the fields of general health, intelligent manufacturing, and hospital-local government partnerships.

Zhao Xin, Co-founder and CEO of Xinsu Technology

B.S. from Peking University, Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Led and participated in projects with total funding exceeding RMB 16 million, including two NIH SBIR grants. Achieved multiple innovative academic results in the design, fabrication, characterization, and mechanism studies of novel semiconductor devices. Published more than 40 papers in top-tier conferences and journals in the field of microelectronics, including IEEE IEDM, VLSI, EDL, TED, Nature Communications, and Advanced Functional Materials. Research findings on semiconductor devices have been adopted by internationally leading semiconductor companies such as TSMC, IBM, IMEC, Sematech, Lam Research, and Oxford Instruments.

Ma Rui, Partner at FreeS Fund

Holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Tsinghua University, and a Ph.D. in Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Focuses on new materials and biotechnology, with investment activities centered on computation-driven approaches, synthetic biology, frontier biotechnologies, and novel therapies. Representative portfolio companies include Qingtao Energy, Bluepha, UBrain Galaxy, XtalPi, METiS, Conmedison, and Xisu Technology. Prior to joining Frees Fund, served at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, participating in the formulation of national policies and plans, and possesses over ten years of research experience in nanomaterials and chemistry. In 2021, was recognized as one of Zero2IPO’s “F40 Young Chinese Investors,” ranked among Huxiu x Baize Capital’s “Top 10 Best Investors in the 2021 Digital Healthcare Sector,” and named by FOFWEEKLY as one of the “30 Young GP Leaders” in its “2021 Investment Institution Person of the Year” list.

Our vision is to leverage semiconductor technology to build the infrastructure for the era of molecular biology, focusing on high-throughput synthesis and detection of DNA, RNA, and proteins, thereby enabling key applications such as synthetic biology, biopharmaceuticals, and DNA data storage. The company was founded by an interdisciplinary team of professors and PhDs from prestigious institutions including MIT, UC Berkeley, Washington University in St. Louis, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Nanjing University. This team combines their expertise with the industry experience of senior engineers from companies such as Intel, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Berkeley Lights, GenScript, and Azenta (formerly GENEWIZ), boasting over a decade of accumulated research and industrial development in semiconductors, microfluidics, and biotechnology. Since its establishment in 2021, the company has completed two rounds of financing.

The Guangming District Government and the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have collaborated to establish an innovation and entrepreneurship platform, led by the SIAT’s Institute of Synthetic Biology, with a construction area of over 12,000 square meters.

The Innovation Center has pioneered China’s first “upstairs-downstairs integrated innovation and entrepreneurship complex” model, with its core construction focused on upstream industrial application research and downstream enterprise incubation management. The application research leverages major scientific infrastructure and the Institute of Synthetic Biology to deliver scientific achievements and facilitate technical collaborations. Meanwhile, incubation management connects with sources of innovation while attracting startups with core competitiveness from the broader society, providing a high-quality entrepreneurial environment, open and shared office spaces, and advanced experimental technology platforms to enable “turnkey” occupancy for enterprises. By leveraging top-tier scientific resources such as Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology, the Institute of Synthetic Biology at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT), and major scientific facilities, the Center accelerates technological development and iteration. This effectively addresses bottlenecks faced by startups due to lack of advanced experimental equipment and their need for specialized technical collaboration, significantly shortening the time cycle from original innovation to industrial commercialization. Furthermore, empowered by China’s first special policy for synthetic biology, the Center helps alleviate initial financial pressures on enterprises, thereby supporting their high-quality development.

The Innovation Center has innovatively broken down the time barriers associated with industrial incubation, traditionally described as moving “from 0 to 1 and then to 10,” by establishing a full-chain enterprise cultivation model encompassing “scientific research, technology transfer, and industrialization.” This approach strengthens a critical link in Shenzhen’s innovation ecosystem for synthetic biology (also known as engineering biology). The model has been included by the National Development and Reform Commission among the 47 best practices from Shenzhen designated for nationwide promotion.

A full-chain fund management company driven by early-stage investments, with active deployments in growth-stage and late-stage ventures. Focusing on three core sectors—Consumer & TMT, Hard Tech, and Biopharma—Frees Fund has invested in over 150 innovative companies, spanning lifestyle, culture and entertainment, intelligent manufacturing, biotechnology and new drug R&D, new energy, and new materials. Research-driven and innovation-oriented, Frees Capital employs a distinctive investment strategy: seeking unique opportunities at the intersection of disciplines. We believe that interdisciplinary fields represent the most promising directions and opportunities for technological innovation, as breakthrough innovations typically emerge at the crossroads of scientific disciplines.

A media and research platform under VCBeat, focused on biomedicine, that empowers innovators and entrepreneurs to communicate their value through both content and operations. In terms of content, it primarily features corporate profiles in frontier fields, investment and financing updates, R&D progress, reviews of outstanding domestic and international case studies, and industry reports on specialized sectors. On the operational front, through branded initiatives such as “VB Think Tank” and “VB Think Tank – Report Premieres,” it focuses on practical challenges, discusses industry trends, and fosters tangible collaborations through the exchange of ideas.

A flagship column under VBInsight. It features the inaugural release of in-depth research on high-growth sectors, accompanied by author commentary, and invites industry practitioners as “Value Discovery Officers” to examine key challenges and solution frameworks from multiple perspectives. By combining report presentations with frontline insights, we ground research in practical context and enrich research with fresh, real-world knowledge, jointly conveying innovative value with dedication.