Ginkgo Bioworks : Expands Autonomous Lab Network to Caltech, MIT, Maryland and Northwestern

About this update from Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc.

BOSTON, August 4, 2026 - Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA) today announced its collaboration on four new autonomous lab initiatives across leading academic institutions: California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Maryland (UMD), and Northwestern University. These projects advance the deployment of cloud-accessible, automated laboratories across the country, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), and Ginkgo's leading robotic infrastructure for life sciences. Three of the new lab nodes, Caltech, UMD, and Northwestern, were selected as part of the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) Test Bed: Toward a Network of Programmable Cloud Laboratories (NSF PCL Test Bed) program. The MIT Media Lab received a grant from the MLSC to establish a cloud laboratory dedicated to biotechnology learning and education. Together, these initiatives enable researchers and students to programmatically design, execute, and analyze scientific experiments remotely. To power these autonomous facilities, Ginkgo is expecting to deploy its Reconfigurable Automation Carts (RACs) alongside its Catalyst Software. This integrated hardware and software stack brings secure cloud access and end-to-end, "walk-away" laboratory automation to each facility, turning physical lab benches into cloud-programmable assets. Overview of the Four Autonomous Lab NodesCalifornia Institute of Technology (ELECTRA): Directed by Dr. Hosea Nelson under the NSF PCL Test Bed program, the ELECTRA (the Electron Diffraction Cloud Laboratory for Research and Autonomy) node at Caltech aims to accelerate structural elucidation (biology materials and chemistry) through automated electron diffraction and spectroscopy. Ginkgo expects to provide RACs and Catalyst Software to integrate sample preparation, data collection, and analytical processing into a single autonomous, cloud-accessible platform. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (CBI): Led by Dr. David Kong and the Community Biotechnology Initiative (CBI) at the MIT Media Lab, this node is supported by a grant from the MLSC. RACs are expected to power the first ever Cloud Laboratory for Learning, focused on democratizing hands-on biotechnology, AI, and robotics education, enabling students and researchers to perform remote labora...

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