Writing with DNA at Scale: Emily Leproust on The Long Run

Today’s guest on The Long Run is Emily Leproust.

Emily is the co-founder and CEO of South San Francisco-based Twist Bioscience. It’s a DNA synthesis company. It uses a silicon-based system to “write” in the language of DNA – that is, make synthetic genes to test ideas in a lab, or to perform some basic biomedical or industrial workhorse function.

Emily Leproust, co-founder and CEO, Twist Bioscience

Many people have heard of “reading” DNA with high-speed, low-cost sequencing. That opens up a lot of possibilities in biotech. Fewer may be familiar with the “writing” part, but it goes hand-in-hand.

Twist Bioscience has been on a wild growth run. The 52-week range for the stock is between $25 and $214. Investors can debate what the right near-term valuation ought to be, but there’s no question there’s a secular trend in the upward direction, in which Twist is a key enabler of both medical and industrial progress.

In this episode, Emily talks about her life story growing up in France, coming to America to become a scientist, and then becoming a scientific entrepreneur.

Enjoy this episode with Emily Leproust on The Long Run.