Biofoundries provide an integrated infrastructure to enable the rapid design, construction, and testing of genetically reprogrammed organisms for biotechnology applications and research. Many biofoundries are being built and a Global Biofoundry Alliance has recently been established to coordinate activities worldwide.

Accurate estimation of total DNA concentration (mass concentration, e.g., ng/muL) that is traceable to the International System of Units (SI) is a crucial starting point for improving reproducible measurements in many applications involving nucleic acid testing and requires a DNA reference material which has been certified for its total DNA concentration. In this study, the concentrations of six different lambda DNA preparations were determined using different measurement platforms: UV Absorbance at 260 nm (A(260)) with and without prior sodium hydroxide (NaOH) treatment of the DNA, PicoGreen assay, and digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR). DNA concentration estimates by A(260) with and without prior NaOH treatment were significantly different for five of the six samples tested. There were no significant differences in concentration estimates based on A(260) with prior NaOH treatment, PicoGreen analysis, and dPCR for two of the three samples tested using dPCR. Since the measurand in dPCR is amount (copy number) concentration (copies/muL), the results suggest that accurate estimation of DNA mass concentration based on copy number concentration is achievable provided the DNA is fully characterized and in the double-stranded form or amplification is designed to be initiated from only one of the two complementary strands.

The reproductive biology of the ovoviviparous peripatus Euperipatoides rowelli was investigated from ®eld collections and laboratory cultures. The sexes have different demographics. The frequency distribution of individual weight is essentially L-shaped in females, but closer to normality for males: thus the sexes must exhibit different patterns of growth and/or mortality. Males are generally much smaller and rarer than females. The primary sex ratio seems to be 1:1 with equal investment in the sexes, while the tertiary ratio is highly female-biased. Logs with fewer individuals tend to be male-biased while well-populated logs tend to be female-biased. Males mature at 15±30% of the bodyweight of mature females. The weight frequency distribution of males without developed sperm in their tracts is strongly skewed to the lower weights, while that of males with sperm is more normally distributed, indicating that sperm production occurs as soon in life as possible. Males mature in their ®rst year of life, if growth rates in culture may be extrapolated to the wild. In contrast to this rapid maturity in males, females may mature as late as their second or third years. Most mature females, and many prior to maturity, carry sperm in their spermathecae. After maturity, there is an approximately linear relationship between body mass and number of developing embryos. Reproduction in E. rowelli is signi®cantly seasonal despite high individual variance, with a major bout of parturition in November±December (summer). A female can harbour one developed and one undeveloped batch of embryos in each uterus. Excesses of developed embryos in one uterus are counterbalanced by de®cits of undeveloped ones, indicating that females can use their paired reproductive tracts independently. Individual females in culture can experience episodes of parturition approx. 6 months apart without re-mating, thus gestation may be 6 months or more. Sperm in spermathecae remain capable of vigorous swimming for at least 9.5 months.

The reproductive biology of the ovoviviparous peripatus Euperipatoides rowelli was investigated from ®eld collections and laboratory cultures. The sexes have different demographics. The frequency distribution of individual weight is essentially L-shaped in females, but closer to normality for males: thus the sexes must exhibit different patterns of growth and/or mortality. Males are generally much smaller and rarer than females. The primary sex ratio seems to be 1:1 with equal investment in the sexes, while the tertiary ratio is highly female-biased. Logs with fewer individuals tend to be male-biased while well-populated logs tend to be female-biased. Males mature at 15±30% of the bodyweight of mature females. The weight frequency distribution of males without developed sperm in their tracts is strongly skewed to the lower weights, while that of males with sperm is more normally distributed, indicating that sperm production occurs as soon in life as possible. Males mature in their ®rst year of life, if growth rates in culture may be extrapolated to the wild. In contrast to this rapid maturity in males, females may mature as late as their second or third years. Most mature females, and many prior to maturity, carry sperm in their spermathecae. After maturity, there is an approximately linear relationship between body mass and number of developing embryos. Reproduction in E. rowelli is signi®cantly seasonal despite high individual variance, with a major bout of parturition in November±December (summer). A female can harbour one developed and one undeveloped batch of embryos in each uterus. Excesses of developed embryos in one uterus are counterbalanced by de®cits of undeveloped ones, indicating that females can use their paired reproductive tracts independently. Individual females in culture can experience episodes of parturition approx. 6 months apart without re-mating, thus gestation may be 6 months or more. Sperm in spermathecae remain capable of vigorous swimming for at least 9.5 months.