Dr. Mark Kotter, founder of bit.bio, discusses the manufacturing problem that is the main bottleneck in cell therapies and cell based drug development. He then presents the technology that offers a solution, which his team discovered in his research lab at Cambridge University, and how his work as a neurosurgeon motivated him in this discovery. He runs through the biology of how the technology works and how it represents an approach where cells are directly coded to behave in certain ways and how this may usher in a new era of cell based therapies. Mark pursued a career in medicine when he was 19 and is still a practicing neurosurgeon today. His curiosity led him into laboratory based discovery focused on stem cell biology. He established a research group at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, where opti-ox was discovered. opti-ox is a synthetic biology approach that enables control of biology. Applied to stem cells, it enables the rapid and precise production of any human cell through reprogramming the cell's DNA, unlocking the potential of human cells for research, drug discovery and cell therapy. The technology forms the basis of bit.bio, a synthetic biology company focussed on human cells of which Mark is co-founder and CEO. bit.bio's mission is coding cells for health to enable accelerated biological research, new generations of cures and increased sustainability through transitioning biology to engineering. Mark also founded Meatable, a cultured meat startup, and is co-founder and trustee of the charity myelopathy.org. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx