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Product Market Fit
Essentialism
Coming into 2020, I wanted to pick up a business book to read. I asked for recommendations from my social network and I searched online for what others regarded as the “top” business books to read. The topic of “doing less, but better” was appealing to me because I tend to have a pretty full calendar of things to do, and, at times, it can be overwhelming to choose what to work on. That “choice” is what Greg stresses in his book. As a result, I’m thinking more about the options I have, and making a conscious choice to work on the things that have the most impact and that matter the most to me. For instance, this journal entry…it had been quite a while since I last posted something on my WordPress site. I was pleased to see that WP added a “block editor” which I am using right now…sitting in the comfort of a warm home…on a snowy, wintry day. I chose this activity as “what matters” and what is essential for today.
Great example of what I want to work on next…#smartphone #point-of-care #lab-on-a-chip
If I could wave my magic wand and work on anything in the next chapter of my technology career, it would be something like this:
A team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Washington at Tacoma has developed a novel platform to diagnose infectious disease at the point of care, using a smartphone as the detection instrument in conjunction with a test kit in the format of a credit card.
Exosome isolation using microfluidics and acoustics (aka “acoustofluidics”)
Wow. Duke University researchers have prototyped a device that can separate tiny exosomes from blood samples using microfluidics and acoustics. The angle and frequency of the sound waves introduced in this device can actually “push” the particles into appropriate sorting channels for further analysis.
Early Detection: the real way to beat cancer
After my gall bladder surgery in early 2014, I got to thinking…could the doctor have checked the other organs (e.g. pancreas, liver, et al) while doing the removal procedure for my gall bladder? How do I know if I have early stages of cancer in my body? The more I thought about this, the more I wanted to learn more. So I started following the news stories that had anything to do with early cancer detection. This article gave me a real shot in the arm when I read it in early 2015. Since then, I have been reading and researching many different articles on early cancer detection. Being a computer engineer, this is challenging, since I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention in chemistry class…and I never had a college level biology class. So, a kind associate let me borrow his medical terminology book so that I could learn. Always be a learner!
Detecting pancreatic cancer from the whites of your eyes
Researchers at the University of Washington have come up with an experimental app called “BiliScreen” that can detect small amounts of bilirubin in the whites of your eyes. Since pancreatic cancer raises levels of bilirubin, this could be a way to detect this elusive cancer much earlier.
Health insurance partners with cancer diagnostics
Investing in Liquid Biopsies
One of the more interesting companies in this space is Epic Sciences who recently announced the completion of a Series D funding round. What is very interesting about Epic’s approach is their “no cell left behind” approach. By maintaining all cells on a slide, there is an opportunity to better classify and categorize what is going on.
Liquid Biopsy space is getting crowded.
There are ~40 companies actively pursuing techniques for early cancer detection using simple blood draws, urine samples, et al. And the space is getting crowded. There is lots to do in this area to make it more efficient, cost-effective, and accurate. New ventures will need to “find a lane” to race in to be successful. Send me an email if you’d like to discuss this.
Setting the Right Trajectory for Your Career
Here is a link to an article I co-wrote with Colin Rhodes, CTO of eHealth Global Technologies.
jaimie cole 