metagenomics
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Biotia
Biotia is a New York-based health-tech company that fights infectious diseases by combining next-generation DNA sequencing with AI-driven software. Its metagenomic platform identifies bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses - plus antimicrobial-resistance markers - from a single sample against a curated database of more than 16,000 microbial species. Spun out of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and operating a CLIA-certified lab in New York City, Biotia turns a single microbiome test into an actionable clinical report to help providers diagnose hard-to-detect infections and support pathogen surveillance from the hospital to outer space.
Karius
Karius is a Redwood City, California life-sciences company that turns a single blood draw into a broad infectious-disease diagnosis. Its flagship Karius Test uses microbial cell-free DNA (mcfDNA) sequencing, metagenomics and AI to detect more than 1,000 pathogens - bacteria, DNA viruses, fungi and parasites - often within a day of receiving a sample. Founded in 2014 out of Stephen Quake's lab at Stanford, the company aims to give clinicians a fast, non-invasive alternative to invasive biopsies and slow cultures, with a focus on the immunocompromised patients who need answers most urgently.
Floré
Floré, built by San Diego biotech Sun Genomics, makes probiotics the slow way: you mail in a stool sample, an accredited lab reads the whole genome of your gut microbiome, and an algorithm trained on tens of thousands of prior formulations builds a supplement matched to the bacteria you actually carry. Founded in 2016 by former Illumina and LabCorp genomicist Sunny Jain, the company sells a subscription that re-tests and re-formulates over time, and has published peer-reviewed research pairing its precision synbiotics with gut and autism-spectrum outcomes.
Solena
Solena is an agricultural biotechnology company that reads the microbiome of farm soil the way a doctor reads a blood panel. Farmers mail in a soil sample; Solena sequences the DNA of the microbes living in it, scores the soil's biological health with its MISS index, and its Prometheus platform turns that data into AI-driven prescriptions for what to apply, when, and how much. The goal is fewer synthetic inputs, healthier soil, better yields, and eligibility for carbon and regenerative-agriculture incentives.