Last October, Ontario Genomics held the sixth edition of its one-of-a-kind conference that featured an impressive roster of national and international engineering biology leaders across food, cleantech and healthcare sectors in a series of presentations, panel discussions, workshops and networking opportunities. Our SynBio conference specializes in creating the perfect environment to expand attendees’ minds while encouraging inter-sector partnerships to strengthen Canada’s position as a leader in biotech.

With a crowd of over 265 people over three days, SynBio 2024 covered a wide range of topics, including cellular agriculture, upcycling, the circular economy, biomanufacturing, phage therapies, ethical and regulatory frameworks, training, and health innovations.

And in a North American first, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations hosted a stakeholder meeting during SynBio 2024 on cell-based and precision fermentation foods, the third event in this international series.

Of course, one of the most exciting parts of SynBio is Ontario Genomics’ annual pitch competition where Canadian biotech start-ups highlight their companies to a panel of all-star investors. The winning pitch came from Advanced Agriscience! They took home an $18,000 grand prize package to continue developing affordable and sustainable biological enhancements to make crops more frost-resistant.