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Biotech, Instruments, Genetics Luke Timmerman wrote: Nanostring Technologies, a company born in the lab of biotech pioneer Leroy Hood, has grown up and is starting to sell a product in the real world. The privately-held maker of gene-analysis tools in Seattle has booked the first sale of its commercial product, and is planning to deliver it within weeks. Nanostring hopes it’s the first step in a plan to shake up the world of genetic analysis with its instrument, called nCounter. The machine is designed to enable large-scale genetic analysis experiments, that might, for example, compare 100 genes from 100 different patients with diabetes to see how the patients respond to treatment. The system, which provides a digital readout that can say precisely how much a given gene is dialled on or off, is meant to compete with Foster City, CA-based Applied Biosystems’ TaqMan 7900 instrument, known in biology lingo as a reverse-transcriptase PCR test. The market for such RT-PCR machines is worth an estimated $1 billion a year, and is growing at a 20 percent annual clip, says Perry Fell, Nanostring’s CEO, previously a co-founder of Bothell, WA-based Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN). So far, Nanostring has booked one order from an unnamed customer for its new system at $235,000, and is doing test runs for many more potentially interested buyers from academia, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostics companies, Fell says. Even though the machine costs about four times as much as the TaqMan, the disposable component of Nanostring’s device is much cheaper and more automated, saving a bundle on time and labor, Fell says. Like most technologies associated with Hood, who co-founded Applied Biosystems (NYSE: ABI), the Nanostring machine can enable a new kind of audacious experiment, providing a digital readout on many more genes and many more cell samples than was possible before. Fell used this analogy to compare his company’s machine to the TaqMan, which costs $60,000: “It’s a bit like asking a farmer to compare the cost of his lawn mower to his tractor,” Fell said in an e-mail. “The 7900 can run a maximum of 1,500 data points a day, whereas the nCounter Analysis System is currently generating over 40,000 data points a day and we expect that to almost double within the next six to nine months.” So there. The company has gotten a bounce in its step since March, when its machine was featured on the cover of the journal Nature Biotechnology. The article led to numerous requests for test runs from potential customers, Fell says. The road hasn’t always been so smooth. The company, founded in 2004, has raised about $17 million in venture capital from Kirkland, WA-based OVP Venture Partners and Menlo Park, CA-based Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Some technical snags probably set the company back six to 12 months, including the departure of technical founder Krassen Dimitrov, said Chad Waite, a partner with OVP. “It definitely set us back, but we’re happy where we are now,” Waite says. “We made the cover of Nature Biotechnology, and not a lot of other companies around here can say that.” Fell is starting to think about raising a third round of venture funding, of about $15 million to $20 million, which he says will be the last time he seeks capital before the company turns profitable. The cash will be used to build up manufacturing, sales and marketing, and development, he says. The staff will grow from about 41 to 70, so the company is already looking to move from its offices along Elliott Bay to a new building at Fairview and Mercer Streets. “We are really focused on two things,” Fell said during a visit to his office last week. “Customer satisfaction, making sure our customers are happy. Then getting to profitability. Those are our key goals.” Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail Less

J.K. Rowling, best known as the author of the Harry Potter series, recently delivered an exceptional speech for the Commencement Ceremony at Harvard University. It’s an amazing discussion of the power of failure and imagination. It’s definitely worth your time to read the full text, or watch the video. She said, “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power weneed inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” Each of us has the power within us to change the world. Do you doubt it? Steve Jobs didn’t doubt it. He imagined a world where every person could have the same computing power that only large organizations had at that point. He dreamed of a world where computers were so user-friendly everybody could use them. John F. Kennedy didn’t doubt it. He had the vision that man could walk on the moon. He set forth his vision with the power of words to direct an entire country’s resources toward that mission. A short time later, Neil Armstrong uttered his famous words, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Martin Luther King didn’t doubt it. He had a dream that people would be judged solely by the contributions they made to society, not by the color of their skin. His dream led to a movement to bring equal opportunity to all. You may say that you don’t have … … the imagination of JK Rowling. To create a world that can inspire millions of young people to read again at a time when everyone thought that only video games could attract them.  … the creativity of Steve Jobs. To see the possibilities for individuals to have access to technology at their fingertips. … the vision of John F. Kennedy. To see the impossible as possible and to inspire an entire nation to get behind the effort. … the oratory skills of Martin Luther King. To put the need for change front and center on the agenda of his country and to move people to effect that change. The unique power within you. You do have the power to imagine a better world and make a difference in your own life and the life of others. Your imagination flows from your unique genetic make-up and your personal experiences. No one else – who has ever walked on this earth, is here now, or ever will be – can duplicate what you have and who you are. You are one of a kind! It’s up to you to live up to the potential that is within you … just imagine! How will you leave the world a better place? What are you doing now to make a difference in the lives of others? Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes.  Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.   Related posts Your Potential Power Back To The Future: Visualizing The Life You Want (Part 1) Back To The Future: Visualizing The Life You Want (Part 2) Reject This Fear And Succeed  (Image by svilen001) ShareThis Less

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Host: Marc Pelletier Guest: Aubrey de Grey; Chairman and Chief Science Officer, the Methuselah Foundation. Benjamin Franklin said: “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes”. But in these times of technological revolution, does this statement still hold true? And if so, for how long? Genes have been identified that upon activation can extend lifespan in most organisms. The great labs of Leonard Guarente at MIT (featured in FiB episode 2), Cynthia Kenyon at UCSF, as well Linda Buck, Nobel Laureate in 2004, are all working arduously to elucidate the molecular details to both slow down the aging process and extend lifespan. Well, Aubrey de Grey is a fairly controversial figure because he proposes doing away with death all together - leaving us with only taxes, I guess? Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime, by Aubrey de Grey. Audible.com Pick of the Week: The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World by Alen Greenspan. For your free audio book visit Audible.com/biotech. Thanks to Cachefly for providing the bandwidth for this netcast. Also thanks to Will Hall for the great opening and closing themes. Running time: 1:04:05 Less

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Host: Marc Pelletier Guest: Dr. Richard Lifton, Chairman of the Department of Genetics; Sterling Professor of Genetics, Medicine and Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at the Yale School of Medicine; and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Dr. Lifton has been on a quest to understand the genetic basis of hypertension, the most important risk factor associated with cardiovascular disease, which affects nearly a billion people worldwide. And since his discoveries have actually changed how doctors treat hypertension, it would be fair to say that his work has improved the lives of millions. I think there is an important underlying story here, and it is not about the genetics of cardiovascular disease, but of scientific endeavor. There are some great challenges ahead of us, and no matter how complex the problem, we shouldn't be discouraged from taking them head on... This episode of Futures in Biotech was sponsored by Invitrogen. Save 15% on selected High Fidelity PCR enzymes with the purchase of a Zero Blunt TOPO cloning kit, and other selected TOPO kits. See TOPO ZeroBackground high fidelity. Quote RTPCWU for US or RTPCWC for Canada when ordering. Thanks to Cachefly for providing the bandwidth for this netcast. Also thanks to Will Hall for the great opening and closing themes AND Matthew McInerney for the cool FiB Desktops. Running time: 1:00:26 Less