Biotechnology is shaping the world with novel medicines, healthy and environmentally-conscious foods, and materials for a sustainable future. In just the last few years alone, we’ve seen countless technological breakthroughs in biotech—from mRNA vaccines to animal free egg whites. To continue to accelerate the pace of innovation and bring breakthroughs from the lab to the world faster than ever before, R&D will need to leverage lab automation and software that can fully integrate with instrumentation and data management systems. It’s no secret that life science is getting more complex, and ..read more

March is Women’s History Month, and this March we are excited to share the stories of several Benchlings and their experiences studying and working across STEM. Though their stories, paths, and lived experiences are unique, they share much in common like a life-long love of learning, a passion to lift up those around them, and a plan to make space for those that will come after them. From the cutting-edge of engineering to the forefront of the life sciences, these women have spent their lives in pursuit of knowledge in the service of transforming the world around them—to make systems stronger ..read more

Benchling’s featured employee spotlight for the month of March focuses on Roni McGee, Head of DEI at Benchling.  Roni brings over 10 years of HR and DEI experience to her human-centered, strategy-based approach to DEI. Roni’s passion for DEI is rooted in the belief that the work of inspiring individuals, transforming cultures, and empowering communities not only positively influence organizations but also the world we live in every day. Before joining Benchling, she was a Sr. DEI Consultant at Paradigm and holds a B.A. in Communications from Santa Clara University. How did you get started ..read more

We are entering a new era of medicine. From the approval of the first antisense oligonucleotide (ASO), aptamer, and SiRNA interference the pipeline of RNA-based therapies and vaccines has expanded dramatically.1-3 By the end of Q4 of 2021, there were 15 RNA therapies approved globally and over 750 RNA-based drug candidates in the clinical pipeline, with 73% of them in preclinical development.4-5 mRNA-based vaccines became the most common modality in development, with RNA interference (RNAi) and ASO as additional modalities of exploration. In addition to the success of the now-famous mRNA-based ..read more

Slow and steady isn’t going to win the biotech race. In order to stay one step ahead of the competition, biotech companies need the computational horsepower only cloud computing can deliver. Over the last 20 years, advancements in cloud computing have made it a technological advantage for growing biotech companies as they move from research to development and beyond. Biotech cloud computing helps companies ensure productivity, quality and compliance Biotechnology companies generate huge amounts of data that need to be recorded, analyzed, and stored in order to advance discoveries through the R ..read more

Cell therapies are shifting the paradigm of treatment for a wide range of unmet medical needs. These cutting-edge treatments have been revolutionizing hematological cancer care since 2017, when pivotal CAR-T approvals of Kymriah and Yescarta produced remarkably effective clinical responses. Following the success of these initial FDA approvals, the cell therapy field has grown rapidly: today, more than 1,358 such molecules are in clinical trials, with another 2,070 in development. While cell therapies hold significant promise, certain challenges regarding their safety, durability of patient res ..read more

The scientists and R&D teams tackling humanity’s biggest challenges are the greatest source of inspiration for how we design and build Benchling – and last year was no exception. As we continue to partner with customers to help power these incredible innovations, we’ve released dozens of new and exciting capabilities in the Benchling R&D Cloud. These include functionality for new scientific modalities, support for early development teams, and a wholly reimagined Workflows application to orchestrate process management. Read on for a deeper dive into Benchling’s product highlights from ..read more

Tara Lee’s passion for the life sciences space stemmed from her time at MIT, where she studied Biological Engineering and conducted research on cancer cell migration dynamics. She has since worked at the intersection of biotech, healthcare, and strategy, and her career has led her to her current role as a Product Manager at Benchling. Tara has worked on the Lab Automation product to integrate Benchling with laboratory instruments, and she and her team are currently building out new tools for analyzing scientific assay data. Can you tell me a little bit about your background and your role here ..read more

How Kolibri is harnessing acoustics and securing their data to enable large production of modern therapies and clean meat We recently sat down with Kolibri, a Paris-based biotechnology company creating the next generation of bioreactors designed to handle mammalian cells. Their first mission is to make gene therapies treatments applicable to more diseases by making gene therapy manufacturing more efficient, higher-quality, and more cost-effective. During our conversation we discussed the company’s groundbreaking science, how they’re accelerating that science with Benchling, and how they’ve est ..read more

Rebecca’s interest in visual arts combined with her love of solving logical puzzles led her to the field of product design, where she’s been working for nearly a decade. Her experience designing for complex enterprise SaaS products lent itself well to Benchling and the intricate tools scientists need to be productive. As a leader on the product design team, along with her colleagues, Rebecca works closely with customers to understand their challenges and craft intuitive user experiences that help scientists solve the world’s most pressing challenges. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself ..read more