Cork biotech firm taking the fiction out of science

A Cork firm is progressing the creation and storage of synthetic DNA, writes Trish Dromey.

The creation of synthetic DNA and the use of DNA as a storage medium are no longer the stuff of science fiction novels — Cork biotech start up Helixworks is making both of these things real.

Poised to become Ireland’s first gene foundry, the company has patented a process which allows it to synthesize longer sequences of DNA that have previously been impossible and which can be used by researchers in cancer treatment and in creating genetically modified organisms.