New England Biolabs: The Philosophy Behind Our Science

Sir Richard Roberts:
Research is my hobby. I would do it, whether they paid me or not. I love making discoveries. Almost every time you come up with a new scientific way of doing things, we don't necessarily know what people will use them for.

Tom Evans:
When times change, when technologies change, when questions change, then, you look back and you think, "That enzyme, that is the linchpin to make this technology work."

Salvatore Russello:
I think science is one of the most creative disciplines, ever. It really involves people being open-minded.

Tom Evans:
And you start to think about the big picture and it's a circle.

Sir Richard Roberts:
We wanted to make sure that we could help the scientific community. And so, we sell products and use the profits to support research.

Salvatore Russello:
And that's really what differentiates us.

Tom Evans:
It was about giving back. To do basic research, so that the researchers have access to the absolute cutting-edge technology, so that they can do their job better, to advance the human condition, the impact on the world. We are experts in enzymes that cut, copy and paste DNA. We also do reagents that allow us to copy RNA, to make RNA, modify RNA. "How does it behave? How does it work? What is the potential outcome of what you're interested in?"

Sir Richard Roberts:
"How can we help the researchers, out in the field? How can we help in the developing countries?"

Tom Evans:
"Does it work on RNA? Does it work on DNA? Does it work on carbohydrates, or is it involved in parasitology?" We'll often say, "Well, let's find out." And then, they publish on it. And that is their goal. We are constantly moving forward, constantly asking the next question, and that is a really hard thing to do. It's fun, but it's very hard. We have, on average, about 30 to 32 separate research labs, all with their own interests.

Nicole Nichols:
Around 200 applications and product development scientists.

Andy Bertera:
You never know which scientist is going to make a discovery. You never know which enzyme is going to be part of a new technology, so always allow scientists to take those opportunities to develop and advance them further, into areas we've never dreamt about.

Salvatore Russello:
NEB serves tens of thousands of life science customers, around the world, at the forefront of developing a lot of the enabling tools and technologies that really help transform the life sciences, making the best possible product we can, to help really enable a whole new generation of life scientists.

Sir Richard Roberts:
Pretty much the entire range of biotechnology and molecular biology research, we provide products for it.

Andy Bertera:
New England Biolabs was founded in 1974, by Dr. Don Comb. I think Don's passion for science is really in his legacy.

Tom Evans:
He always had a vision of giving back to the community. And one of the ways he wanted to give back was to do research. And he really trusted people to have massive input in what they do. And he was willing to invest in asking questions. He didn't know exactly the impact of that question, but, inevitably, that impact is there.

Sir Richard Roberts:
I feel so proud to have been part of this. It's a tremendous achievement.