Better medicine is in our(synthetic) DNA

Better medicine is in our(synthetic) DNA

A path to better medicines

With our novel DNA base pair, we are designing and building protein therapeutics to create an entirely new generation of tailored medicines to improve how we treat disease.

Explore our science

DNA research: the path to Synthorins™

1866

Mendel publishes on the heredity of peas and establishes the first laws of genetics.

1944

Avery, McLeod, McCarty define DNA as the carrier of genetic information.

1950

Chargaff establishes rules of base pairing.

1953

Wilkins, Franklin, Watson, and Crick publish the double helix structure of DNA.

1958

Hoagland and Zamecnik discover tRNA.

1962

Rich publishes the first proposal of unnatural base pairs (UBP) and selective pairing of DisoC and DisoG via H-bonding patterns

1964

Nirenberg, Leder, Khorana, and Holley describe triplet nature of the genetic code and genetic code translation.

1973

Cohen and Boyer discover recombinant DNA technology.

1983

Mullis invents the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique.

1989

Benner demonstrates in vitro replication and transcription of isoC and isoG.

1992

Benner publishes first in vitro translation using isoC–isoG pair and isoCAG codon.

1997

Kool demonstrates selective dA-dF pairing with reduced complementary H-bonding.

2003

Two scientific teams publish the first human genome sequences.

2006

Hirao publishes first UBP pair that could be PCR amplified with an error rate below 1%.

2009

Romesberg lab publishes first UBP pairs, d5SICS-dNaM (X) and d5SICS-dMMO2 (Y), that can be efficiently PCR amplified and transcribed.

2014

Romesberg lab shows nucleotide transporter allows for replication of XY genetic information in E. coli.

2014

Synthorx founded with technology licensed from the Romesberg Lab at The Scripps Research Institute and secures $6.25M Series A.

2015

Demonstration of in vitro translation of UBPs (X and Y): Synthorx identifies codons and validates in vitro translation.

2016

Synthorx completes $10M Series B and initiates in vivo platform and internal pipeline.

2017

Synthorx initiates scalable recombinant protein production (synthorins) and begins lead candidate selection in two programs.

2017

Romesberg lab publishes on a semi-synthetic organism that stores and retrieves increased genetic information.

2018

Synthorx starts two IND-enabling programs.

2018

Synthorx completes $63M Series C financing.

Protein therapeutics have delivered tremendous value to patients, but have many limitations that cannot be corrected utilizing the twenty natural amino acids. With Synthorx’ Expanded Genetic Alphabet platform technology, we can design and scale-up novel proteins with improved pharmacological properties, with the goal of making more efficacious, safer, and convenient therapeutics for patients.

The Synthorx team

At Synthorx, we focus on making significant advancements in protein design to deliver highly targeted therapeutic modulation for patients suffering from diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders.

Meet our team

Synthorx, Inc.


11099 North Torrey Pines Road, Suite 290
La Jolla, CA 92037

Synthorx, Inc.

11099 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA

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