whole-genome-sequencing
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Mansour Samadpour and the Arithmetic of an Invisible Threat
A Seattle microbiologist built a career around a stubborn proposition: food should be treated as risky before a crisis proves it was. His instruments are DNA, probability and the willingness to look for trouble.
Sasan Amini
Sasan Amini is the co-founder and CEO of Clear Labs, a San Carlos genomics company that turns next-generation DNA sequencing into a push-button diagnostic for food safety and infectious disease. An Iranian immigrant who left Tehran at 22, he earned a PhD in genomics at Princeton, worked in advanced research at Illumina, and in 2014 set out to make sequencing simple enough for any lab to run. When COVID-19 hit, Clear Labs pivoted its automated platform into SARS-CoV-2 surveillance and reached more than half of U.S. public health labs.
Complete Genomics
Complete Genomics is a San Jose-based life-science technology company and the Americas arm of MGI. Founded in 2005 as a pioneer of affordable whole-human-genome sequencing, it develops and sells next-generation sequencing instruments, reagents, and analysis software built on its proprietary PCR-free DNBSEQ (DNA nanoball) technology. The company aims to drive down the cost of sequencing - from the landmark $5,000 genome to sub-$100 - and supplies researchers, clinical labs, and biotech companies with a full workflow spanning sample prep, library construction, sequencing, and data analysis.
Clear Labs
Clear Labs is a San Carlos, California genomics company that builds Clear Dx, a fully automated next-generation sequencing platform. It turns whole genome sequencing - normally a slow, expert-heavy lab process - into a push-button diagnostic used by food manufacturers and public health labs to detect pathogens like Salmonella and Listeria, characterize SARS-CoV-2 and TB, and identify bacteria and fungi from clinical specimens, often with next-day results.
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.
Human Longevity, Inc.
Human Longevity, Inc. is a San Diego- and South San Francisco-based genomics and precision-health company founded in 2013 by genome-sequencing pioneer J. Craig Venter, Peter Diamandis, and Robert Hariri. It pairs clinical-grade whole genome sequencing with whole-body MRI, hundreds of blood biomarkers, and AI analytics - delivered through its Health Nucleus platform - to detect cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other age-related conditions before symptoms appear. After a decade building one of the world's largest longitudinal genotype-phenotype datasets, the company in 2026 launched a $599 clinical-grade whole genome report and spun out Human Life Foundation Models, Inc. to build large-scale AI foundation models for longevity science.
Nucleus Genomics
Nucleus Genomics is a New York-based consumer genomics company that sells a $399 at-home, clinical-grade whole-genome sequencing kit and a software platform that turns a person's full DNA sequence into readable reports on disease risk, carrier status, traits, and longevity. Founded in 2021 by Thiel Fellow Kian Sadeghi, Nucleus pairs whole-genome data with polygenic risk scores and lifestyle inputs to estimate risk for common, complex conditions. In 2025 it expanded into reproductive products - carrier screening, partner DNA alignment, and a controversial embryo-ranking tool, Nucleus Embryo - that put the company at the center of a public debate over the science and ethics of genetic selection.
Kian Sadeghi
Kian Sadeghi is the founder and CEO of Nucleus Genomics, a New York biotech building consumer whole-genome sequencing that aims to put your DNA in your pocket. He dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania at 20, taught himself genetics across 18 notebooks in a Brooklyn year he hid from his parents, won a Thiel Fellowship, and raised roughly $32 million from Peter Thiel, Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six, Balaji Srinivasan and Founders Fund. His mission traces to a cousin who died young of a suspected heart-rhythm disorder, and his blunt embrace of 'genetic optimization' has made him one of the most debated young founders in biotech.
Orchid
Orchid is a reproductive genetics company offering the first commercially available whole-genome sequencing test for IVF embryos. Founded by Noor Siddiqui in 2019, Orchid reads more than 99% of an embryo's genome before implantation and screens for over 1,200 monogenic conditions, chromosomal abnormalities, de novo mutations, and polygenic disease risk - so prospective parents can make informed choices before pregnancy begins.
Yongwei Zhang
Yongwei Zhang is the CEO of Complete Genomics and MGI Americas, leading one of the most ambitious efforts to make whole-genome sequencing fast, accurate, and affordable at scale. With a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins and dual bachelor's degrees from Tsinghua University, Zhang brings a rare blend of optics precision, software fluency, and entrepreneurial grit to the genomics frontier. He architected the DNBSEQ sequencing platform series now used by over 2,600 researchers in 100 countries, and has positioned Complete Genomics as a formidable challenger to Illumina's market dominance - at a fraction of the cost.
Noor Siddiqui
Noor Siddiqui is the founder and CEO of Orchid Health, a San Francisco-based biotech startup offering whole-genome sequencing for IVF embryos, screening for 1,200+ genetic variants. Motivated by watching her mother lose her sight to retinitis pigmentosa, she dropped out of high school at 17 to become one of the youngest Thiel Fellows, later returned to earn dual CS degrees at Stanford, and then built Orchid with $16.5M in funding from investors including 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki and Coinbase's Brian Armstrong. She is also the host of the podcast 'Conceivable with Noor.'