Story Of Oxford Nanopore (Part1)

Oxford nanopore was founded in 2005 out of an idea that had been floating around since the later 1980s. The idea was to develop a disruptive, electronic, single molecule sensing system based on nanopore science, allowing you to sequence genomes in a matter of hours. In 1989 Prof. Deamer at UC Davies had the notion that a protein channel might be incorporated into the membrane of a liposome and that the resulting channel might accommodate individual nucleotides. Each nucleotide would product its own current as it passed through the channel. This could be used to measure polynucleotide length as well as enable high-speed detection of sequences of bases in single molecules of DNA or RNA. A number of people approached them over the years, it took them years to produce a sequence but there was a realism with Gordon in terms of how many years it would take to go from the primitive technology in the lab into something commercial.

The company, originally called Oxford Nanolabs, was co-founded by Dr Gordon Sanghera, Dr Spike Wilcocks and Prof Hagan Bayley. They licensed the IP in order to commercialise the technology and 9 years later they released their first nanopore sequencing device in 2014, finally making real time sequencing of native DNA and RNA accessible.

Gordon's own journey is striking. From a Swindon council estate to leading one of Britain's most innovative life science companies. He earned his BSc in chemistry before pursuing a PhD in Bioelectronics at Cardiff University. He then moved to Oxford to join MediSense, an early spin-out that built electrochemical blood glucose monitors. Over 16 years he rose from R&D scientist to VP of marketing and director of manufacturing process development. When Medisense was acquired by Abbott for $876m, Gordon stayed on but didn't enjoy working for large pharma. A conversation in the pub with Dave Norwood and Spike Willcocks pointed him towards "single molecule stochastic sensing" an idea that required a similar skill set to what he acquired over his journey at MediSense.

Three months later they began. The goal, to convert a complex academic demo into an affordable plug and play, accessible DNA sequencer for anyone, anywhere.

After creating a proof of concept, they went off and raised £7.5 m, mentioning to investors that this technology would take 5-7 years and cost three or four hundred million pounds to deliver. A lot of investors laughed them out of court, but ultimately Patient Capital invested in them.

It wasn't until 2009 that they got their first big break, 3 years of things not working before funding parallel work in the Prof's lab in California and in one month they made two big breakthroughs. A £17.4m raise in 2010 kept the platform alive. By 2012 they demoed sequencing at a conference, wiping nearly a billion of the market caps of other companies. This enabled them to raise another £100 m. By the end, they had raised around $1.2 B to build Oxford Nanopore into a $3.4 B unicorn when they IPO'd in 2020. They took genomic sequencing from 10 years, $3 B dollars, to a few hours.

Key Takeaways

3 years of things not working, then 2 big break throughs in one month "...it is trial and error and you just gotta keep going... Push, push, push until the dam breaks."

Early nanopore devices often failed, breakthroughs came after repeated redesigns as well as working with academic partners for scientific insights.

Even with multiple well respected academics backing the research "...people still laughed us out of court..."

It took 7 years 2005 - 2012 to achieve reliable sequencing. Investors that expect quick

returns aren't suited to tech diagnostics.

Due to multiple roles in MediSense, from experience in the lab, marketing and manufacturing, Gordon developed a diverse skill that greatly aided him in creating Oxford Nanopore.

References

Riding Unicorns Podcast | Gordon Sanghera, Co-Founder & CEO @ Oxford Nanopore

Jazz Shapers Podcast | Cutting-Edge DNA sequencing Technology Co-Founder and CEO Gordon Sanghera nanoporetech.com