Non-coding DNA's Alpha Moment

I had been meaning to read the AlphaGenome paper on non-coding variant effect prediction from Google DeepMind which recently showed up in Nature, but had found excuses not to dive in.  Then DeciBio’s Stephane Budel posted on LinkedIn with some incisive comments and few things spur me to action better than my sense of competition! So here's a quick, incomplete & imperfect take on this giant paper.

Sequencer vs. Library Prep Market Structures

Something I started pondering as I was prepping my JP Morgan items: the structure of the market for sequencing library prep is very different from that for sequencers.  Perhaps this is painfully obvious to many, but I hadn't turned it over before in my mind.   It also follows that the sequencer market was overweighted in who was invited to give talks at the banking conference - nearly every sequencer maker was there - Complete Genomics and Singular Genomics were the missing parties (and Singular is a bit of a quasi-sequencer company now).  Note that in this piece I will not claim a complete census of companies in this space - though please feel free to note exceptions in the comments

P2 Solo: ONT Extends Support But Not Sales

A brief update to the earlier P2 Solo piece - Oxford Nanopore has now announced they will extend their support for the device until 2030, but they are still ending sales this summer.  So a cosmetic victory for Solo fans, but not really much gain - and certainly disappointing for anyone saving their quid for a future purchase.  Solos may become very valuable, though it's hard to see ONT ever countenancing a healthy resale market.

ONT Axes P2 Solo, Roiling Community

Oxford Nanopore has a serious case of user community unrest, triggered by the announcement that the P2 Solo (aka P2s) will be phased out starting this summer.  P2 Solo is the two flowcell version of PromethION which required external GPU for basecalling; P2i is the sibling with onboard GPU. P2 Solo clearly has a very passionate constituency, one which feels betrayed by its discontinuation.  This ongoing episode - ONT could always change their mind and restore the P2 Solo - is a cautionary tale of the challenges of changing corporate strategy in the context of a brand which has built a near cult-like loyalty. 

JP Morgan 2026 Roundup

The J.P. Morgan conference last week was mostly small tidbits of info on the sequencing front, with Element delivering the one big teaser announcement. 

JPM 2026 Schedule Through A Molecular Tools & Testing Lens

The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is this week in San Francisco.  As with every other one, I'm tracking any news remotely from Boston.  Some year I really should go to observe the sheer spectacle of it, but this isn't the year - and if I were in California now it probably would be more valuable to attend Plant & Animal Genomes down in San Diego.  If you do go, be sure to check out the 4 instrument autonomous laboratory Ginkgo will have running in the Marriott Marquis lobby.  But here are some notes to keep track of when different companies are presenting.  Public companies will make their presentations available shortly thereafter to comply with insider trading regulations.  Unfortunately, several years ago J.P. Morgan ended posting presentations from private companies - these companies could choose to post their decks but I'm not optimistic to see many.

Stalking the Elusive Product Market Fit

I had a wonderful breakfast conversation back in November with Arima Genomics Founder (and now President and Chief Operating Officer) Sid Selvaraj where he brought up the topic of product market fit.  I've often kibitzed on 'omics companies trials and tribulations trying to achieve product market fit, but now that I'm in an outward-facing product development role the concept is central to my daily work.  What is it and how does one achieve it - or fail to?