M. Allen Northrup, Ph.D., FRSC

Back in early 1990s, in learning from a colleague about PCR methodology, it was apparent to me on me that the state-of-the art PCR machines were horribly designed: large, power intensive, expensive, and basic.  The heater block was machined aluminum, and it was heating/cooling only about 25-50 microliters of reagent liquids.  At the same time, I was talking to UC Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC) for a possible post-doctoral position.  At this point, it dawned on me that some basic micromachining of silicon with an integrated heater could replace the big PCR machine with much greater efficiency, portability, and very low power.  I subsequently approached a colleague at local Cetus Corporation (later bought by Roche) where PCR was invented. From there, I was given access td Roche to implement Roche PCR technology onto a BSAC fabricated PCR Silicon chip.  This was in 1990/91 and I was the first the implement PCR on a silicon chip.  The collaboration continued and I was the first to implement real-time, optically interrogated PCR chip with the very early Nichia Blue LED and the pre-product Roche Taqman Chemistry in 1993.  I filed several patents at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) (my employer at the time) and UC Berkeley (I was named a Visiting Scholar) which ultimately lead to me co-founding Cepheid in 1996, with those patents as a basis for the technology.   

This was the first “visionary” effort for me, and it became a theme of my career, as I did similar activities across multiple technologies, intellectual property, collaborations, and product concepts.  Examples include: micro-actuators from LLNL for interventional surgery with surgeons from UC San Francisco medical school, LLNL PCR chip coupled with UC Berkeley’s electrophoresis chip in 1996, high aspect ratio silicon pillar chip for flow-through immunoassay, and several others.  Much of this is reflected between the lines on my CV in patents, publications, and within the companies founded. 

In the early days of Cepheid with fewer than 20 employees as the CTO, the investors labeled me as “the company visionary”.  This was a great compliment, however, I want to emphasize that I didn’t do these things alone, but with the support of many persons.  Therefore, I want to emphasize that these “visionary” ideas don’t get implemented without a team of key individuals, and I am fortunate to have a collaborative personality and I expect to continue this theme going forward.  

I believe I can continue to extend these successes in business activities for the benefit of existing, new, and growing companies.