Kevin McKernan

We couldn't get the read lengths that we're used to getting, which we used to be able to read like 600 bases or so with these older tools. But this thing, you can get like maybe 30 to 50 bases, but you can get 100 million of them at once in the same timeframe. So it was a total game changer in the sequencing field. Ultimately, we were getting genomes.

They used to cost about $300 million to do the first human genome. And this thing was pumping them out at like $3,000. Whoa. And so once we had proof of principle of that working – We had to spin out a company, and this 19-person company got in a bidding war with Lumina and ABI, where we're the two largest genetic companies in the world, started having a bidding war over this company.

They used to cost about $300 million to do the first human genome. And this thing was pumping them out at like $3,000. Whoa. And so once we had proof of principle of that working – We had to spin out a company, and this 19-person company got in a bidding war with Lumina and ABI, where we're the two largest genetic companies in the world, started having a bidding war over this company.

They used to cost about $300 million to do the first human genome. And this thing was pumping them out at like $3,000. Whoa. And so once we had proof of principle of that working – We had to spin out a company, and this 19-person company got in a bidding war with Lumina and ABI, where we're the two largest genetic companies in the world, started having a bidding war over this company.

And they eventually acquired that company, and I went with that acquisition, and we started building those. These things were called solid sequences. We started putting them to the market, and the first people that were picking those up What were they called? What kind of sequencers? Solid. Solid sequencers. Yeah. Standard for sequencing by oligo ligation detection.

And they eventually acquired that company, and I went with that acquisition, and we started building those. These things were called solid sequences. We started putting them to the market, and the first people that were picking those up What were they called? What kind of sequencers? Solid. Solid sequencers. Yeah. Standard for sequencing by oligo ligation detection.

And they eventually acquired that company, and I went with that acquisition, and we started building those. These things were called solid sequences. We started putting them to the market, and the first people that were picking those up What were they called? What kind of sequencers? Solid. Solid sequencers. Yeah. Standard for sequencing by oligo ligation detection.

We did sequencing a different way. I mean, most people use polymerases that grow DNA strands with enzymes on – in one direction. If you remember your biology, you have two DNA strands. And when they split, polymerases copy one strand. The other strand is replicated with something known as lagging strand synthesis. It's a different way of replicating DNA that your cells use.

We did sequencing a different way. I mean, most people use polymerases that grow DNA strands with enzymes on – in one direction. If you remember your biology, you have two DNA strands. And when they split, polymerases copy one strand. The other strand is replicated with something known as lagging strand synthesis. It's a different way of replicating DNA that your cells use.

We did sequencing a different way. I mean, most people use polymerases that grow DNA strands with enzymes on – in one direction. If you remember your biology, you have two DNA strands. And when they split, polymerases copy one strand. The other strand is replicated with something known as lagging strand synthesis. It's a different way of replicating DNA that your cells use.

So one gets done with polymerases. The other side gets done with ligases. All the IP in the world was covered on the polymerase front. That's what everyone had been using since Fred Sanger. And so we realized that that's just a minefield of patent estate. And like, we're going to go on the other strand and do it backwards.

So one gets done with polymerases. The other side gets done with ligases. All the IP in the world was covered on the polymerase front. That's what everyone had been using since Fred Sanger. And so we realized that that's just a minefield of patent estate. And like, we're going to go on the other strand and do it backwards.

So one gets done with polymerases. The other side gets done with ligases. All the IP in the world was covered on the polymerase front. That's what everyone had been using since Fred Sanger. And so we realized that that's just a minefield of patent estate. And like, we're going to go on the other strand and do it backwards.

And so we started doing these ligation things and it worked, worked really well. It's still to date, I think has the record as, as probably the most accurate sequencer ever built, but it's just limited in the length of reads they can do. It can probably only do like 50 to a hundred base pair reads. And now these other sequencers that are out there can do thousands to a million base pair reads. And,

And so we started doing these ligation things and it worked, worked really well. It's still to date, I think has the record as, as probably the most accurate sequencer ever built, but it's just limited in the length of reads they can do. It can probably only do like 50 to a hundred base pair reads. And now these other sequencers that are out there can do thousands to a million base pair reads. And,

And so we started doing these ligation things and it worked, worked really well. It's still to date, I think has the record as, as probably the most accurate sequencer ever built, but it's just limited in the length of reads they can do. It can probably only do like 50 to a hundred base pair reads. And now these other sequencers that are out there can do thousands to a million base pair reads. And,

They take a hit on some of the accuracy of the sequence, but they can get lengths that we could never get on the system that we had back then. But nevertheless, it was a powerful tool. It got distributed to lots of cancer centers that were sequencing tumors to try and differentiate tumors from the patient's genome.

They take a hit on some of the accuracy of the sequence, but they can get lengths that we could never get on the system that we had back then. But nevertheless, it was a powerful tool. It got distributed to lots of cancer centers that were sequencing tumors to try and differentiate tumors from the patient's genome.

They take a hit on some of the accuracy of the sequence, but they can get lengths that we could never get on the system that we had back then. But nevertheless, it was a powerful tool. It got distributed to lots of cancer centers that were sequencing tumors to try and differentiate tumors from the patient's genome.

And this whole personalized medicine thing was really looking like it was about to shine. So I was there for about five years.