USA – The world’s leading provider of life science research tools and services, GenScript has announced the opening of a more than 50,000-square-foot facility for highly automated gene synthesis and plasmid preparation services in Piscataway, New Jersey.

The US$13 million facility will increase capacity tenfold. The plant, which will be located near the company’s US headquarters in Piscataway, New Jersey, will create between 100 and 200 new jobs over the next two years, according to the company.

The cutting-edge facility represents a significant expansion of the company’s advanced gene synthesis services, and it is intended to mitigate supply chain risks for US-based customers by providing high-quality, quick-turnaround products needed for new vaccines, therapeutics, and synthetic biology innovations.

The 50,000-square-foot facility is GenScript’s first automated plant in the country, as the Chinese CDMO and CRO aims to accelerate production in developing new vaccines.

Cell and gene therapy production is typically a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Manufacturers have begun to adopt more fully automated technologies, spurred on by the demand for vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Robots can now perform more manual tasks in areas such as cell therapy production and software systems. Furthermore, the use of artificial intelligence reduces the amount of time spent on record-keeping for regulatory agencies and overall operations.

Many automated lines can now operate in parallel rather than sequentially, allowing for higher production rates.

This specialized laboratory and manufacturing facility allows us to deliver reliable products to (customers) faster than ever before,” Ray Chen, president of GenScript’s USA Life Science Group, said.

Besides, the new site also gives GenScript’s U.S. customers additional production resilience in case of “unexpected events such a pandemics and changes in customers and trade regulations.”

GenScript, a pioneer in the field of DNA synthesis, has completed over 600,000 gene synthesis projects for scientists worldwide.

Its patented gene synthesis and plasmid preparation services provide innovative and high-quality products to small laboratories and large commercial organizations for developing cell and gene therapies for cancer and other diseases, as well as new vaccines.

With its wide range of tools and services, GenScript has aided in the development of global efforts to develop COVID-19 vaccines.

It also creates up to 200kb DNA fragments for new applications in the rapidly growing field of synthetic biology.

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