Will Serber | VP Automation
Ginkgo Bioworks

Will Serber is VP and General Manager of Automation at Ginkgo Bioworks and leads a cross-disciplinary team of ~50 scientists and software, mechanical, and automation engineers. Together, they are responsible for automating Ginkgo's high throughput Foundry as well as inventing and commercializing new automation technologies. Will came to Ginkgo via Zymergen, which he joined early enough to help grow from 4 to ~1000 employees over 10 years. He led the group that created the proprietary modular automation technologies currently being offered by Ginkgo’s Automation Business Unit (RACs & Catalyst Automation Control Software). He has degrees from Columbia University and Princeton University in astrophysics.

Appearances:

Day 1: 15th October @ 11:40

Catalyst ACS: Software infrastructure for modular, resilient, and scalable lab automation

Most life science labs are under-automated and software is often a limiting factor. Effective automation requires powerful orchestration: software that supports diverse users, adapts to change, and keeps systems running reliably. In this talk, I’ll introduce Catalyst ACS, our modular, web-based control platform built for high-mix biological environments. It enables closed-loop science, interleaved workflows, industry-leading remote error resolution, simulation of new protocols and configurations and more. Built with a microservices architecture, Catalyst ACS is designed for continuous improvement. Automation doesn’t end at deployment, it begins there. Good software, not just good robots, enables more science per dollar and per day.

Will Serber, VP Automation, Ginkgo Bioworks

last published: 12/Sep/25 17:45 GMT

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