Our team recently finished Jim Mellon’s book Cracking the Code, his fourth co-researched and authored with Al Chalabi.  The premise is understanding the biotech revolution, how it is transforming our lives, and how to participate as an investor. Jim sees the context of the impact of understanding our DNA through sequencing advances and the human genome project. We couldn’t agree more, and found chapters 4 and 5 to be full of important insights.

We also see a paradox when moving from context to action. On one hand, the massive increase in sequencing speed and data analysis and the associated cost efficiencies have accelerated sustainably beyond Moore’s Law. These productivity disruptions are making the secrets of the human genome assessable. On the other hand, we in science are stunned by the newly recognized and beautiful inter-genomic complexity, its variability, the epigenetic ballet, the choreography of functional genomics, the biochemistry of the control of gene expression, DNA replication and nature’s DNA proof-reading errors known as mutations. These natural mutational experiments result in evolution, sometimes under Darwinian natural selection leading to adaptation and fitness, and sometimes just serendipity.

As the market allocates public and private capital to advance biomedical innovation, investors seek out actionable investment entry points aligned with their risk tolerance and time horizons for liquidity.  We like betting on the filters and lenses of smart, seasoned entrepreneurs who work with teams of leading biomedical, biophysical and computational medical scientists and engineers. Their insights will make sense out of nature’s “Grand Reveal” and lead to valuable products that address human goals and improve value in our healthcare economy. That’s where you’ll find us prospecting for innovation.