photothermal-heating
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Jun Ho Son and the Useful Trouble With Light
Before co-founding Kryptos, Jun Ho Son worked on making LEDs brighter and more durable. At Berkeley, he helped put their light to another use: heating a thin film of gold.
Kryptos Biotechnologies, Inc.
Kryptos Biotechnologies is a Hayward, California life-sciences startup that reinvented the PCR machine around light. Its proprietary photothermal heating uses an optical thin film to convert light into precisely controlled heat, driving an Ultrafast Photonic PCR engine that runs 40 thermal-cycles in under 10 minutes. That engine powers Kuick, a sample-to-answer molecular diagnostics system that delivers lab-grade infectious-disease results at the point of care in roughly 20 minutes. Founded in 2017 and backed by a $10M Series A led by Osang Healthcare, Kryptos is pushing toward U.S. clinical trials and FDA clearance.