Decentralized Traceability
AuraZine authenticates physical objects using blockchain-registered molecular signatures.
No central databases, no proprietary control, no intermediaries.
Decentralized Traceability Using Molecular Tagging
AuraZine is a deep technology company pioneering a new foundation for global trust: a decentralized molecular traceability system that fuses DNA cryptography with blockchain transparency. Our patented system allows anyone to authenticate physical objects with cryptographic certainty, without centralized databases, proprietary information, or institutional intermediaries.
Security by Physics, Not Secrecy
AuraZine achieves security through intrinsic molecular complexity rather than concealment. Each tag contains millions of distinct DNA oligonucleotides, forming a sequence space that is virtually impossible to reproduce de novo. This architecture makes it possible to disclose the tag’s entire composition on a public blockchain, delivering complete transparency with uncompromised security. This total transparency, combined with uncompromised security, is unmatched by any other system.
One Drop Secures Your Item for Millennia
Our DNA tag is a nanoscopic marker that binds to virtually any surface and remains permanently detectable, allowing any item to be uniquely encoded at the molecular level. Leveraging DNA’s extraordinary half-life and versatile surface-functionalization chemistry, a single drop provides durable molecular encoding for thousands of years. Our patented AuraZine key cannot be recreated de novo, duplicated, or extracted from the tagged surface, making it inherently resistant to counterfeiting
Our Story
We come from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where we shared an ambition to take DNA technology beyond the laboratory. A key insight emerged from our work: spatial genomics technologies can generate molecular DNA patterns that are unique, impossible to replicate, and impossible to transfer.
We found that these properties address a challenge that traditional authentication systems cannot solve. Even when a DNA sequence and its spatial organization are fully known, they cannot be reproduced. This enables physical objects to be verified without relying on secrets, private keys, or trusted intermediaries, providing a transparent and robust framework for authentication.
DNA offers capabilities unmatched by any existing system. It is molecular and completely invisible, has demonstrated stability over thousands of years, when embedded within an object it cannot be removed or transferred, and benefits from a globally standardized sequencing infrastructure available through commercial providers worldwide.
We founded AuraZine to bring molecular authentication to a digital-first world. By anchoring invisible DNA tags to the blockchain, we are creating a permanent, tamper-proof link between physical objects and digital trust.
Meet the Founders
Evan Macosko, MD-PhD
Evan is a core institute member and the Edward Scolnick Professor at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and an associate professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. He invented Drop-seq and Slide-seq, pioneering techniques that decode the gene-expression signatures of thousands of individual cells and map them across intact tissue. That expertise in resolving fine-grained signal from massive sequencing data sits at the heart of AuraZine's approach, where intricate DNA patterns become an unforgeable signature for authenticating physical goods. Named to MIT Technology Review's "35 Innovators Under 35," he brings rare depth in molecular barcoding and high-throughput DNA sequencing to the team.
Nicolas Lapique, PhD
Nicolas is a technology developer specializing in unconventional applications of DNA as an information-bearing material. During his PhD at ETH Zurich, he developed a novel approach to reversibly zip and unzip DNA, enabling compact and controllable delivery of genetic sequences. At the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, he advanced DNA-based amplification technologies to extract spatial information directly from biological systems. His work forms the biomolecular foundation of the company’s DNA-based object tagging and authentication platform.
Michael Kim, PhD
Michael is a molecular and computational biologist with a PhD from Harvard University in Neuroscience. His research focused on brain connectomics using large-scale DNA tagging and barcoding strategies to map complex biological networks. He brings deep expertise in DNA information encoding, scalability, and data integrity, and is currently completing a JD, positioning him to bridge advanced biotechnology with intellectual property, regulatory, and commercialization strategy.
Nicholas Thom
Nick is a PhD student at Harvard University in Biophysics and Computational Biology, specializing in the development of DNA assembly networks as a new form of molecular measurement and microscopy. His work focuses on designing and scaling complex DNA oligo systems capable of encoding high-dimensional information. This expertise enables him to translate intricate DNA-based designs into computational frameworks, laying the foundation for the integration of DNA tagging with blockchain technology for secure item authentication and traceability.