Synteny
Proposal by Solvent
September 2026

Decoding biology, made visible.

A content and brand programme for Synteny: ten short films, a stronger Substack, and a steady public presence for the scientists doing the work.

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Background

A world model of the immune system.

Synteny is a London biotech building an AI model of how the immune system recognises disease, trained on data from its own wet lab.

The company and the technology

Synteny designs T cell receptors, the molecules immune cells use to recognise a target. Antibodies can only reach the 10 to 20 per cent of proteins on a cell's surface. TCRs can reach the other 80 to 90 per cent, inside the cell, where most disease biology happens.

The platform has two halves. The Data Foundry, a London wet lab, screens up to a million TCR variants against their targets in a single experiment. MANIFOLD, a suite of models, learns from those results and proposes the next molecules to test. Its first oncology target is KRAS, one of the most frequently mutated genes in cancer.

Positioning and marketing today

Synteny sells access to the platform through design sprints, target discovery, co-development, licensing and direct access to its models. The buyers are pharma partners, and the case rests on trust: the data has to be right and the science has to hold, because the decisions downstream are about patients.

The team is its strongest asset: scientists from Microsoft Research, Cambridge's Early Cancer Institute and Immunocore, who present at AACR and NeurIPS workshops and write a technical Substack. Publicly, most of this goes unseen. There is no regular video, little social presence, and the Substack posts every month or two.

80 to 90%of proteins sit inside the cell, where TCRs can reach and antibodies cannot
Up to 1MTCR variants screened in a single experiment
13Substack essays since September 2025, including results that did not work
3audiences: pharma partners, investors and future hires
Neil Dalchau in the Microsoft Research film Programming DNA
Neil Dalchau, now Head of Computational Biology at Synteny. Microsoft Research, Programming DNA.
A gloved hand using a multichannel pipette
The bench. Microsoft Research, Programming DNA.
Spheres settling into an ordered tray
Many experiments, one clean answer. Microsoft, Introducing Majorana 1.
The brief

Sound and look different.

Build awareness of Synteny with the three audiences that matter, in a way that stands apart from every other AI biotech.

"I think every AI bio company sounds exactly the same."

Lilly Wollman, CEO, on our first call

Most of Synteny's work happens at a bench or in code, which does not film well by default. The films solve this with three things: the scientists explaining their own work, the lab shot properly, and animation that shows what the eye cannot see. Leadership appears through talks, panels, podcasts and writing, and does not have to present to camera.

The tone follows the science. Precise, open about what failed, and focused on the work.

On the call Lilly said people are flooded with social content, and raised flyers as the alternative. So social here is a way of delivering the films, not the strategy: fewer posts, each carrying a film or a result, and posters and flyers where the audience actually works.

ChannelWho it reachesWhat goes thereLane
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
Social: LinkedIn, X and RedditPharma, investors, researchersCut-downs, stills and captions for every film and postA B C
Targeted ads 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 scientistsKing's Cross, White City, Cambridge, Kendall Square, South San FranciscoB 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 run the marketing, bring in the right people for each piece, and keep everything on strategy and on brand.

Creative direction

One consistent look and voice across films, posts, adverts and print, built on Synteny's existing brand.

Strategy and planning

Audience priorities, channels and a release calendar tied to Synteny's milestones, papers and hiring.

Regular meetings

A planning session every month and a short weekly check-in, so nothing goes out without Synteny's sign-off.

Film development

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

Production and animation

Shoot days, editing, sound, and the animation team for the abstract sequences.

Our network

Directors, animators, photographers and designers chosen for each job and run by Solvent, so the quality stays even.

Substack support

Editing, images and film clips for the Substack, and help turning papers into readable posts.

Distribution

Posting, targeted adverts, print runs and conference material, with reporting on what worked.

Talks and appearances

Finding podcasts, panels and speaking slots for Lilly and the team, and preparing them.

Substack and papers

Everything points back to the work.

The Substack and the scientific papers are where Synteny already sounds most like itself. They become the hub that every film, post and talk sends people to.

Thirteen essays since September 2025, written by nine named authors, including a published negative result: when the team adapted Boltz-2 to predict protein binding strength, structure-based models lost to sequence-based ones. The last post went up on 21 July.

We propose a post every fortnight, each with a named author, a film clip or animation where it helps, and a short summary of the paper behind it. Papers and preprints get a plain-English post on the day they are released.

Synteny, the company

  • Substack. The main voice: essays, results and lab notes.
  • Papers and preprints. The evidence, each with its own post.
  • Website. Films, team profiles and the latest writing.
  • LinkedIn, X and Reddit. Cut-downs that link back to the post.

The scientists

  • Lilly Wollman. Podcasts, panels and her own essays on the company's direction.
  • Neil Dalchau. On camera in the films, talks on the platform and the models.
  • Named authors. Each essay credited, shared from the author's own accounts.
  • Team profiles. Qualifications and work on the website, to show who is behind the platform.

The two feed each other. The company publishes, the scientists share and discuss it under their own names, and each person's reputation adds to Synteny's. Over time the team become known names in the field, and that recognition belongs to the company too.

Ten films

  • 45 second masters
  • Longer cuts on YouTube and synteny.ai
  • Each ends on the post it comes from

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

  • King's Cross and White City
  • Cambridge station and campus
  • Kendall Square and South San Francisco

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. Most are built on something Synteny has already published, and end on the post they come from.

01

You cannot one-shot biology

The lab and the model teaching each other, in Lilly's words.

02

The inside of the cell

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

03

A million receptors, one experiment

The Data Foundry, and why scale matters. Post

04

The experiment that did not work

Structure lost to sequence on affinity. Published anyway. Post

05

KRAS, the next PD-1

One of the most frequently mutated cancer genes, and how TCRs 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

The university partnerships and challenges, filmed.

Neil Dalchau leads on camera, with the rest of the team seen at work. Lilly is filmed speaking at talks and seminars, never straight to the lens. The science carries the authority and the people carry the familiarity.

Visually the films share one system: white and pale green frames, the lab shot like a set, and abstract animation for what the eye cannot see. That keeps ten different topics looking like one series.

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 carries an abstract animated sequence in Synteny's palette: white ground, fluid movement, and forms that stand on their own as images. Messy biological 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 there is always finished material ready when Synteny publishes, hires or announces. Film ten adds footage from the university challenge itself.

Day one: the people

Long interviews with Neil, Lilly and the scientists behind each topic. These become the spine of every film, plus clips for social and the Substack.

Day two: the lab

The Data Foundry at work: plates, sequencers, screens and hands, shot like a set. This footage carries all ten films.

After the shoot

Editing and animation in batches. Each film is locked with the scientist who owns the topic before release.

Release rhythmWhat goes outTied to
Every fortnightA Substack post, with clips cut for socialNew results, papers and lab notes
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

The exact dates follow Synteny's own calendar. What matters is that the rhythm is planned and kept.

Partners

On Crusoe and Synteny.

Crusoe filmed a customer story in Synteny's lab. It shows how a platform company builds standing: by being seen alongside the customers who rely on it.

What Crusoe did

Crusoe presents itself as established by partnering with its customers in public. Nebius does the same on Reddit, with customer films about Basecamp Research and NYBAI.

What Synteny can do

Use the same approach with its own partners, customers and investors. Films and posts made together put Synteny next to the people it works with, as the authority on this part of biology.

What it leads to

Co-released films, joint posts, social campaigns and podcasts link Synteny publicly with the right companies. Those public 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 would release a Synteny cut alongside it and link it to a post on the work Crusoe filmed.

Universities

University partnerships and challenges.

The people Synteny wants to hire are students today. Working with them directly, 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

For example, HackEurope. Europe's largest student hackathon brought 1,000 students to Dublin, Paris and Stockholm in February 2026. Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Stripe backed it, and Crusoe was 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 the right specialists for each part, from event producers to editors. Everything stays on strategy and on brand. Release timing follows the films and the Substack, so the challenge becomes a chapter 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.
Lanes

Three ways to start.

Each lane builds on the one before. Once a lane is chosen we will put a scope, timeline and fee to it.

A Foundation

The films, the Substack and a steady rhythm.

  • Strategy, creative direction and monthly planning
  • Two shoot days and ten films, with longer cuts
  • Animation system in Synteny's palette
  • Substack support and social cuts

B Presence

Lane A, taken to the people Synteny wants to reach.

  • Targeted adverts on X, Reddit and Meta
  • Posters and flyers in biotech hubs
  • Talks, panels and podcasts for Lilly and the team
  • Team profiles for synteny.ai

C Authority

Lanes A and B, with partners and universities.

  • Films with partners, customers and investors
  • The Crusoe co-release and joint campaigns
  • University partnerships and challenges
  • Film ten, with footage from the university challenge
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 throughout, responsible for delivery and scheduling. Ten years directing documentary.

James Robertson

Co-founder, strategy and systems

Leads the content strategy, the Substack plan and the release calendar.

Jay Green

Co-founder, creative direction

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

Next step

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