DNA has been the core technology of my career. I began in Immunology, where I discovered several receptor genes before the human genome. I led programs at Synthetic Genomics, Inc. including gene editing, recoding a yeast genome and was lead on the fully automated DBC printer for biologics and vaccines. I subsequently was CTO of a few startups working on in vitro DNA and peptide therapeutics. Across those experiences, I realized the great need for rapid DNA prototyping, production and scale up and decided to solve those problems with cell-free enzymes systems and eliminate the growing bottleneck imposed by legacy E. coli methods.