Synteny
Proposal by Solvent
September 2026

Decoding biology, made visible.

A marketing plan and ten films for Synteny, built so the scientists become known names in the field.

Scroll
Background

A world model of the immune system.

A London biotech building an AI model of how the immune system recognises disease, trained on its own lab data.

Synteny

Synteny designs T cell receptors, which can reach the 80 to 90 per cent of proteins inside the cell that antibodies cannot. Its Data Foundry screens up to a million receptor variants in one experiment, and its MANIFOLD models learn from the results and design the next round.

Pharma partners buy access to the platform. They need to trust the data and the science, and the scientists behind both are the company's strongest asset. Right now most people never see them.

Where Solvent comes in

Solvent is a documentary studio. We film founders and scientists for Entrepreneurs First, CoreWeave, Dawn Capital and Project Europe, among others.

For Synteny we would run the marketing: plan it, make the films, and keep the team visible between papers.

80 to 90%of proteins sit inside the cell, out of antibodies' reach
Up to 1Mreceptor variants screened in one experiment
13Substack essays, including failed experiments
3audiences: pharma, investors and future hires
Neil Dalchau in the Microsoft Research film Programming DNA
Neil Dalchau, Head of Computational Biology. Microsoft Research, Programming DNA.
A gloved hand using a multichannel pipette
The bench. Microsoft Research, Programming DNA.
An engineer preparing a drone before a test flight
Solvent: engineers at work. Zero Industries, Test Flight.
A founder in profile during an interview
Solvent: founders, unscripted. Entrepreneurs First, The Bridge.
The brief

Sound and look different.

Build awareness with pharma partners, investors and future hires, and stand apart from every other AI biotech.

Most of the work happens at a bench or in code. The films show it through the scientists explaining their own work, the lab shot properly, and animation for what the eye cannot see. Leadership appears through talks, podcasts and writing, never presenting to camera.

The tone follows the science: precise, open about what failed, focused on the work. Social carries the films rather than replacing them, and posters reach people where they work. Authority comes from the work, not from stunts.

ChannelWho it reachesWhat goes thereProposal
Substack and papersPharma scientists, investors, candidatesEssays, results including failed experiments, lab notesA B C
Ten films, YouTube and websiteAll three audiences45 second masters, longer cuts on YouTube and synteny.aiA B C
Official channels: LinkedIn, X and RedditPharma, investors, researchersScheduled posts, reposts of the field's best work, film cut-downsA B C
Targeted adverts on X, Reddit and MetaNamed pharma teams and candidate profilesPaid versions of the best-performing filmsB C
Posters and flyers in biotech hubsPharma business development and scientistsLondon, Cambridge, Oxford, Boston, San Francisco, Basel and moreB C
Conferences, panels and podcastsPharma and investorsTalks, panels and podcast appearances for Lilly and the teamB C
Partner and investor filmsPharma and investorsCo-released films and posts with partners and backersC
University partnerships and challengesStudents and future hiresChallenges, student collaborations, model access and a filmC
What Solvent does

Marketing, handled end to end.

Synteny's team stays in the lab. We plan, make and run the marketing, with the right specialists for each piece.

Strategy and positioning

Who to reach, where, and what Synteny should be known for, planned around its milestones.

Creative direction

One look and voice across films, posts, adverts and print.

Regular meetings

Monthly planning and a weekly check-in. Nothing goes out without sign-off.

Film development

Research, scripts and storyboards. We draft, the scientists check the facts.

Production and animation

Shoot days, editing, sound and the animation team.

Our network

Directors, animators, photographers and designers, chosen per job and run by Solvent.

Social and calendar

Scheduled posts, reposts of relevant work, and adverts, with monthly reporting.

Substack support

Editing, images and clips, and papers turned into readable posts.

Personal profiles

Posts, clips, talks and podcast slots for Lilly and the scientists.

Substack and papers

Everything points back to the work.

The Substack and the papers are where Synteny already sounds most like itself. Every film, post and talk sends people back there.

Thirteen essays by nine named authors since September 2025, including a published negative result: structure-based models lost to sequence-based ones on binding strength.

We propose a post every fortnight, each with a named author and a clip where it helps. Every paper gets a plain-English post on release day.

Ten films

  • 45 second masters
  • Longer cuts on YouTube and synteny.ai
  • Each ends on a matching post

Social cuts

  • Vertical and square versions
  • Stills and captions per film
  • Shared by the named authors

Targeted adverts

  • X, Reddit and Meta
  • Aimed at pharma teams and candidates
  • Only the films that already work

Posters in biotech hubs

  • London, Cambridge and Oxford
  • Boston, San Francisco and San Diego
  • Basel, Zurich and Copenhagen

Talks, panels, podcasts

  • Slots found and prepared by Solvent
  • Filmed for clips where allowed
  • Each links to a matching post

University partnerships

  • Challenges built on real problems
  • Student collaborations and model access
  • A film about working with students

Partner films

  • Co-released with partners and backers
  • Their own people telling the story
  • Each with a joint post

Team profiles

  • On synteny.ai
  • Qualifications and published work
  • Linked from every essay
The ten films

Each one should feel like a medical revolution.

45 second masters, with longer cuts on YouTube and synteny.ai. The first announces the world model. The rest are built on Synteny's own published work, and every one is included in all three proposals.

01

Introducing the world model

The launch film: a model that learns how immune recognition works. Post

02

The inside of the cell

Antibodies reach 10 to 20 per cent of proteins. Receptors can reach the rest. Post

03

You cannot one-shot biology

The Data Foundry and the model, teaching each other. Post

04

The experiment that did not work

Structure lost to sequence on affinity. Published anyway. Post

05

KRAS, the next PD-1

A common cancer gene, and how receptors can reach it. Post

06

Noise into signal

How messy assay data becomes something a model can trust. Post

07

Designing the receptor

Generation steered towards the binding a therapy needs. Post

08

Precision for autoimmunity

Switching off only the cells causing harm. Post

09

The people behind the platform

The scientists, where they came from, and why they chose this problem.

10

How Synteny works with the next generation

Students, challenges and model access. Universities

Neil leads on camera, with the team seen at work. Lilly appears at talks and seminars, never straight to the lens. The science carries the authority.

One visual system across all ten: white and pale green frames, the lab shot like a set, and animation for what the eye cannot see.

Social and presence

Known in the field, without stunts.

Two presences, run together: the company's official channels, and the scientists under their own names.

Synteny's official channels

  • Planned calendar. Scheduled posts for every film, essay and paper, set a month ahead.
  • Reposting. Relevant papers, results and news from the field, shared with a line of context.
  • Social cuts. Vertical and square versions, stills and captions for each film.
  • Targeted adverts. X, Reddit and Meta, aimed at pharma teams and candidates, using only the films that already work.

Lilly and the scientists

  • Their own posts. Drafts, clips and images for each person to share under their name.
  • Talks, panels and podcasts. Slots found and prepared by Solvent, filmed for clips where allowed, each linked to a matching post.
  • Named authors. Every essay credited and shared from the author's own account.
  • Team profiles. Qualifications and published work on synteny.ai, linked from every essay.

Separate, but connected. The company publishes, the scientists share and discuss it, and each person's reputation adds to Synteny's. Over time they become known names in the field.

Posters

Where the audience already works.

Lilly suggested flyers as the answer to crowded feeds. Posters go up in the biotech hubs where pharma teams, investors and candidates work, each with a film still and a QR code to the post.

London

King's Cross Knowledge Quarter, White City Innovation District

Cambridge and Oxford

Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge station, Oxford Science Park

Boston

Kendall Square, Seaport

San Francisco Bay

Mission Bay, South San Francisco

San Diego

Torrey Pines

Switzerland

Basel, Zurich

Copenhagen

Medicon Valley

Conferences

Hotels and venues around the partnering meetings Synteny attends

Aerial view of an industrial site
Solvent: places, shot from above. Lavoit, Operational Intelligence.
A glowing sphere on a light surface
A still that works as a poster. Microsoft, Introducing Majorana 1.
Nebius advert featuring Basecamp Research
One image, one line, one link. Nebius and Basecamp Research, Reddit advert.

We pick the sites and timing with Synteny, design the posters from the film stills, and handle printing and placement.

References

Warm, precise and calm under pressure.

Frames from the films that set the tone: scientists shown fully and doing real work, labs lit with care, and the confidence of people too busy with the problem to perform.

Three engineers in conversation around a round table
Conversation, not interview. Claude, How Ramp engineers work with AI agents.
A scientist at a desk beside a microscope
Competence on camera. Anthropic, Model Hardware Standard.
A researcher speaking in a warm, planted interior
The expert, framed warmly. Microsoft, Majorana 1 Explained.
Neil Dalchau explaining, mid-gesture
Neil, already on camera. Microsoft Research, Programming DNA.
An automated pipetting head over well plates
Machines doing the patient work. Anthropic, Model Hardware Standard.
A scientist looking out over a lake
Room to think. Anthropic, Model Hardware Standard.
A patient creating art at a screen
The patient at the end of it. Neuralink, Neuralnauts: Audrey.
People building in a cluttered workshop
Building in the open. Anthropic, Keep thinking.
Interview still from a Claude Code advert
Interview light. Anthropic, Claude Code advert.
Two people talking across a desk
Two people, one problem. Anthropic, Claude Code.
Microscopic organism in green light
The microscopic world, shot like cinema.
Circular micro view of organic growth
Growth under the lens. Title sequence reference.

The reference films

Microsoft, Introducing Majorana 1. The 45 second master.
Microsoft, Majorana 1 Explained. The long cut.
Anthropic, AI in the lab. Science filmed honestly.
Claude, Ramp. Experts in conversation.
Anthropic, Keep thinking. Tone and pace.
a16z, It's Time To Build. The wider mission.
Neuralink, Audrey. The human outcome.
Kurzgesagt, virotherapy. Hard biology made clear.
World Labs, Atlas. A world model launch.
Tendril for IBM, z17. Hardware as a hero.
Tendril for Figure, Figure 02. Materials and motion.

More from the same companies

Claude, a year of Claude Code. Boris Cherny and Cat Wu, on the set used in the Reddit advert.
Anthropic, Claude for Life Sciences. Its two life sciences leads, in conversation.
Claude, The Briefing: AI for Science. Researchers and pharma companies show what they built.
Claude, hope in hard questions. Real voices, a wider mission.
Claude, A Time and a Place. Mother London. Cannes Film Grand Prix 2026.
IBM Research, Quantum System Two. A research lab's launch film.
Tendril for IBM, LinuxONE. The z17 look, made playful.
Tendril, design reel 2025. Materials and detail up close.

AI biology, filmed

Google DeepMind, AlphaFold. The team behind a breakthrough.
Arc Institute, Building Evo 2. A DNA model explained by its makers.
Recursion, Behind the Breakthrough. A virtual cell, from day one.
Recursion, TxPert. One of the authors explains the paper in under 90 seconds.

Platforms filmed with their customers

Nebius, Basecamp Research. The five-minute film on the same story as the Reddit advert.
Microsoft and NVIDIA, Basecamp Research. The same customer, a second platform.
Google Cloud, Isomorphic Labs. Drug design as a customer story.
Crusoe, Command Center. How Crusoe presents itself today.
Animation

The complex topic, broken down into something beautiful.

Each film has an abstract sequence in Synteny's palette: white ground, fluid movement, forms that stand on their own. Messy data goes in, clean predictions come out.

Close-up of a quantum processor
The quantum chip. Microsoft, Introducing Majorana 1.
Generated style frame: a sphere of flowing green filaments on white
Early style frame, generated. A sketch in Synteny's palette, a starting point for the animation team.
Spheres settling into an ordered tray
Chaos into order. Microsoft, Introducing Majorana 1.
Iridescent spheres floating on white
Soft, bright materials. Microsoft, Introducing Majorana 1.
A patterned ribbon floating against a light background
Fluid movement. Microsoft, Introducing Majorana 1.
Rendered nanowire on translucent tiles
Showing the unseeable. Microsoft, Majorana 1 Explained.
Robot parts suspended in a white gallery
White space as a stage. Tendril for Figure, Figure 02.
Macro of a textured surface
Macro texture. Tendril for IBM, z17.
Molecular animation from Programming DNA
Where Neil's story started. Microsoft Research, Programming DNA.

Contact sheets from all eleven reference films

Contact sheet, Introducing Majorana 1
Microsoft, Introducing Majorana 1
Contact sheet, Majorana 1 Explained
Microsoft, Majorana 1 Explained
Contact sheet, Model Hardware Standard
Anthropic, Model Hardware Standard
Contact sheet, IBM z17
Tendril for IBM, z17
Contact sheet, Figure 02
Tendril for Figure, Figure 02
Contact sheet, Kurzgesagt
Kurzgesagt, virotherapy
Contact sheet, Ramp
Claude, Ramp
Contact sheet, Keep thinking
Anthropic, Keep thinking
Contact sheet, It's Time To Build
a16z, It's Time To Build
Contact sheet, Neuralnauts Audrey
Neuralink, Audrey
Contact sheet, Atlas
World Labs, Atlas
Production

Two shoot days, ten films.

Two days in London bank the interviews and lab footage for all ten films, so finished material is ready whenever Synteny publishes, hires or announces. In Proposal C, film ten also uses footage from a university challenge.

Day one: the people

Long interviews with Neil, Lilly and the scientists behind each topic, the spine of every film.

Day two: the lab

The Data Foundry at work, shot like a set. This footage carries all ten films.

After the shoot

Editing and animation in batches. Each film is checked by the scientist who owns the topic.

Release rhythmWhat goes outTied to
Every fortnightA Substack post, with clips cut for socialNew results, papers and lab notes
Every weekScheduled posts and reposts on the official channelsThe planned calendar and the field's news
Roughly monthlyOne of the ten films, with its longer cutThe post it comes from
Around big announcementsAdverts, posters and a matching filmConferences, funding news, hiring rounds

Dates follow Synteny's calendar. The rhythm is planned and kept.

Partners

On Crusoe and Synteny.

Crusoe filmed a customer story in Synteny's lab. Platform companies build standing by being seen with the customers who rely on them.

What Crusoe did

Crusoe builds standing by partnering with its customers in public. Nebius does the same on Reddit, with films about Basecamp Research and NYBAI.

What Synteny can do

The same with its own partners, customers and investors: films and posts made together, with Synteny as the authority on this part of biology.

What it leads to

Public links with the right companies, through joint films, posts and podcasts. Those links tend to become working relationships.

Nebius advert featuring Basecamp Research
Nebius and Basecamp Research. Reddit advert.
Nebius advert featuring NYBAI
Nebius and NYBAI. Reddit advert.

The Crusoe film is not out yet. When it is, we release a Synteny cut alongside it, linked to a post on the work.

Universities

University partnerships and challenges.

The people Synteny wants to hire are students today. Working with them on real problems is the most credible recruiting film there is.

What it includes

  • A named Synteny challenge, built from a problem the team has already published on
  • Student collaborations and limited access to Synteny's models for the best teams
  • Judging seats and keynote talks for Synteny's scientists
  • Film ten: how Synteny works with the next generation, filmed at the challenge

For example, HackEurope. Europe's largest student hackathon: 1,000 students in Dublin, Paris and Stockholm, February 2026, backed by Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Stripe, with Crusoe as an anchor sponsor. Solvent made its official film (solvent.studio/portfolio).

How Solvent runs it

We plan the challenge with Synteny, manage the partners and bring in specialists, from event producers to editors. Release timing follows the films and the Substack, so the challenge becomes part of the same story.

A young person working at a laptop
The next generation, curious. Anthropic, Keep thinking.
People building in a workshop
Building in the open. Anthropic, Keep thinking.
Engineers around a table
Experts and students, one table. Claude, Ramp.
Proposals

Three proposals, one plan.

Every proposal includes the ten films and the wider marketing plan. B and C add reach and authority on top. Once Synteny picks one, we put a scope, timeline and fee to it.

In every proposal

  • Strategy, positioning and the marketing plan
  • The ten films, starting with the world model launch
  • Two shoot days, animation, and longer cuts for YouTube and synteny.ai
  • Monthly planning and a weekly check-in

Proposal A Foundation

The films, the Substack and the official channels, run on a steady calendar.

For: a consistent public voice from the first month.

Proposal B Presence

Everything in A, taken to the people Synteny wants to reach, with the scientists visible under their own names.

For: pharma teams and candidates knowing the names.

Proposal C Authority

Everything in B, with partners and universities alongside.

For: becoming the name the field associates with this work.

Team

Who does the work.

Three founders, on it from start to finish, with specialists from our network brought in for each job.

Michael Fitzpatrick

Co-founder, client lead

Your point of contact, responsible for delivery. Ten years directing documentary.

James Robertson

Co-founder, strategy and systems

Leads the marketing plan, positioning and the release calendar.

Jay Green

Co-founder, creative direction

Leads the films, the animation and the look across every channel.

Next step

Pick Proposal A, B or C, or tell us which parts matter most, and we will come back with a scope, dates and a fee.