The technology is called Massively-Parallel Sanger Sequencing, and if the founder of Genome Corp. and his backers are right, it has the potential to greatly accelerate the speed of genomic sequencing while significantly reducing its cost.
Last week, the Slater Technology Fund announced it has invested $250,000 in the Providence startup, which is led by Kevin M. Ulmer, a scientist and serial entrepreneur who has focused on next-generation DNA sequencing technologies for two decades.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
“Genome Corp. represents the kind of big idea and bold ambition for which we believe the Slater Fund is uniquely suited,” said Richard G. Horan, senior managing director of the Slater Technology Fund and chairman of the new company’s board.
DNA sequencing is increasingly viewed as the key to a future of personalized, more targeted and effective medicine. Some day soon, scientists and medical experts predict, people should be able to know early in their lives what their health vulnerabilities might be, and better protect themselves. And if they get sick, knowing their genetic makeup will enable doctors to give them drugs that specifically address their needs and avoid dangerous side effects.
But genome mapping remains extremely expensive, so making it faster and cheaper has become a priority for scientists around the world. Ulmer, president and chief science officer of Genome Corp., has long argued that next-generation DNA sequencing technology is crucial to unlocking the promise of genomic medicine.
His new company, Slater said in a news release, “aims to become a leading player in the emergence of personalized medicine based upon its development of proprietary technologies for sequencing and analyzing the genomes of individuals.”
Ulmer has a long track record in this field.
In 1987, he founded SEQ LTD, the first of the single-molecule sequencing ventures, later acquired by Amersham Biosciences, now GE Healthcare. Slater’s Horan was a senior executive of that company, as was Jay K. Trautman, now vice president of discovery research and technologies at Cytokinetics Inc. and the third member of Genome Corp.’s board.
In 1995, Ulmer collaborated with Stan Lapidus in the formation of Exact Sciences Corp., a leader in DNA-based colorectal screening technology. Ulmer served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Exact from 1996 to 2000 and was a co-inventor on the company’s initial patents. He also continued to consult for Exact in 2001 on “digital PCR” technology for the routine amplification of single DNA molecules.
In 1997, Ulmer founded Pavonis Inc., a venture-backed genomics startup applying new DNA technologies to human morphology and appearance traits. And in 2003, he consulted for Flagship Ventures on the formation of a new single-molecule sequencing company based on the academic work of a former SEQ consultant, Prof. Stephen Quake, now at Stanford University. Ulmer then served through 2004 as a full-time consulting scientist to the new venture, Helicos BioSciences Corp., to help develop what Slater said has emerged as the only direct single-molecule sequencing technology so far demonstrated.
At the same time, Ulmer pursued the development of Massively-Parallel Sanger Sequencing technology on an independent basis. That technology combines aspects of traditional Sanger sequencing, which Slater said has been used to generate more than 99 percent of the DNA sequence data deposited in GenBank over the past 25 years, with techniques leveraging new advances in single-molecule biochemistry.
Earlier this year, Ulmer and Slater agreed to collaborate to form Genome Corp. Ulmer contributed intellectual property and related assets, while Slater committed the $250,000 in seed capital.
In announcing the Slater investment, Horan noted that Genome Corp. is led by an entrepreneur “with a career of experience being brought to bear,” adding that “we look to engaging some of the best and brightest genome scientists to address some of the most exciting unsolved problems in biotechnology today.” •
