Ginkgo Bioworks in Partnership with STRM.BIO and University of British Columbia in Project to Develop In Vivo CAR Therapies Under ARPA-H's EMBODY Program
Ginkgo Bioworks to apply its RNA construct design expertise to develop long-lived, tissue-
specific, and highly potent in vivo CAR therapies for autoimmune diseases
BOSTON, Oct. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) today announced a collaboration with STRM.BIO and the University of British Columbia (UBC) as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health's (ARPA-H) Engineering of Immune Cell Inside the Body (EMBODY) program. EMBODY is led by ARPA-H Program Manager Daria Fedyukina, Ph.D. The partnership aims to develop in vivo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapies for autoimmune diseases, leveraging Ginkgo's expertise in RNA construct design and immune cell engineering.
Autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and myasthenia gravis (MG), affect millions of people worldwide and pose significant public health challenges. These conditions are characterized by the immune system mistakenly attacking the body's own cells, leading to chronic inflammation and tissue damage. Current treatments often involve systemic immunosuppression, which can result in increased risks of infection and other side effects due to broad immune suppression.
The project, titled "IN VIvo T-cell Engineering with Megakaryocyte EVs" (INVITE-ME), focuses on developing in vivo CAR-T therapies for autoimmune diseases by combining STRM.BIO's proprietary megakaryocyte-derived extracellular vesicle (MV) delivery system with Ginkgo's RNA construct design expertise. The MV platform delivers complex genetic cargo directly to bone marrow-resident cells, enabling in situ engineering of T cells without the need for costly and lengthy ex vivo manipulation. This approach aims to create transformative therapies that could eliminate autoreactive immune cells, potentially offering durable treatments for diseases like SLE and MG.
"This is an exciting opportunity to partner with ARPA-H, STRM.BIO, and UBC on an important effort in a unique public-private partnership structure," said Jesse Dill, Government BD Lead at Ginkgo Bioworks. "Our team is thrilled to extend and apply Ginkgo's RNA design capabilities to support the development of this exciting new modality for in vivo CAR-T therapeutics."
"Our advanced capabilities in RNA construct design and screening make us a strong partner for teams aiming to push the boundaries for this new therapeutic modality," added Dr. Taeyoon Kyung, Senior Engineer at Ginkgo Bioworks. "We look forward to contributing to this significant project and using our platform to advance novel optimized RNA-based therapeutics to the clinic."
"We are delighted to have Ginkgo Bioworks and UBC partner with us on this groundbreaking initiative," said Dr. David Raiser, COO of STRM.BIO. "By combining STRM.BIO's MV delivery platform with Ginkgo's expertise in RNA construct design, we aim to create transformative therapies that could redefine the management of autoimmune diseases. This collaboration brings together leading-edge technologies and expertise to address a significant unmet medical need."
The partnership will leverage Ginkgo's nucleic acid AI and machine learning capabilities, along with its immune cell engineering expertise, to identify and optimize constructs for long-lived, tissue-specific, and highly potent expression of CAR genes. UBC will provide further expertise in the design of self-amplifying RNA motifs, further extending the potency and lifetime of these constructs. The goal is to develop in vivo CAR therapies that can selectively eliminate autoreactive B and T cells without the need for ex vivo cell manipulation or genome editing.
This initiative underscores Ginkgo's commitment to advancing RNA engineering and establishing itself as a credible partner in RNA cargo design for therapeutics companies. By participating in this groundbreaking program, Ginkgo plans to further develop and demonstrate its capabilities in RNA engineering and in vivo therapeutic delivery, contributing to the advancement of novel treatments for complex autoimmune diseases.
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About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo Bioworks builds the tools that make biology easier to engineer for everyone. Ginkgo R&D Solutions delivers customizable R&D packages—such as protein engineering, nucleic acid design, and cell-free systems—giving partners a comprehensive way to accelerate innovation across therapeutics, diagnostics, & manufacturing. Ginkgo Automation sells modular, integrated laboratory automation so scientists can spend their days planning and analyzing experiments rather than pipetting in the lab. Ginkgo Datapoints uses Ginkgo's in-house automation to generate the large lab data sets to power your AI models. Ginkgo Biosecurity is building and deploying the next-generation infrastructure and technologies that global leaders need to predict, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and ginkgobiosecurity.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo and @Ginkgo_Biosec), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of the partnership and Ginkgo's cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) our ability to realize near-term and long-term cost savings associated with our site consolidation plans, including the ability to terminate leases or find sub-lease tenants for unused facilities, (ii) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business, (iii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, including with respect to our solutions and tools offerings, (iv) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (v) the uncertainty regarding the demand for passive monitoring programs and biosecurity services, (vi) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vii) the outcome of any pending or potential legal proceedings against Ginkgo, (viii) our ability to realize the expected benefits from and the success of our Foundry platform programs and Codebase assets, (ix) our ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses, data packages or other deliverables, (x) the product development, production or manufacturing success of our customers, (xi) our exposure to the volatility and liquidity risks inherent in holding equity interests in other operating companies and other non-cash consideration we may receive for our services, (xii) the potential negative impact on our business of our restructuring or the failure to realize the anticipated savings associated therewith and (xiii) the uncertainty regarding government budgetary priorities and funding allocated to government agencies. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 25, 2025 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
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About STRM.BIO
Based in Cambridge, MA, STRM.BIO is a pre-clinical, venture-backed biotechnology company leveraging extracellular vesicles as a platform to develop and deliver targeted genetic medicines in vivo that are safe for repeat dosing. Our vision is to open the door to the future of medicine for patients living with rare diseases worldwide and bring gene therapy to life. Please visit www.strm.bio to meet our growing team of partners and collaborators and stay up to date on our progress.
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