The BioBrick Assembly Kit includes reagents for constructing BioBrick parts, which are nucleic acid sequences that encode a specific biological function and adhere to the BioBrick assembly standard. The kit, which includes the instructions for putting those parts together, sells for $235 at New England BioLabs, of Ipswich.

Shetty did not release sales figures, but said the kit’s users include students, researchers, and industrial companies. The kit was also intended to be used in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition in Cambridge. The undergraduate contest challenges student teams to use biological parts to build systems and operate them in living cells.

The assembly kit is the first product from Ginkgo, which was started in 2008 by Shetty, Knight, and three other MIT PhDs. The company is also working on rolling out a consulting-style service for more elaborate DNA construction. It plans to work with other companies to determine how they can design biological systems to fit their business functions.

“We think of ourselves as a biological design firm,’’ says Shetty.

In September 2009, Ginkgo got a $150,000 loan from LifeTech Boston, a city initiative to help the life sciences industry grow. Ginkgo was selected that month to be part of an initiative in Scotland to improve synthetic DNA assembly.

Erin Kutz

From:  http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/03/22/ginkgo_bioworks_sells_kit_to_connect_pieces_of_dna/