The Geonomics Podcast

NGP - next generation proteomics - with Abrus founders Michael Graige and Chris Macdonald

Excited to announce a new episode of the Geonomics Podcast: part 2 of my interview with the fabulous Susan Tousi, CEO of DELFI Diagnostics.

In this episode we discuss her unique career path starting out as a Penn State engineering grad then leading Eastman Kodak Company's printer business to leading Illumina's R&D and then commercial units and now CEO of Delfi.

Susan deep-dives on her current role at Defi, a company focused on whole genome sequencing for cancer detection: Delfi's first test targets lung cancer, the deadliest cancer with low screening rates. Susan explains the importance of early detection in improving survival rates (Delfi has a 75% stage I sensitivity👏👏👏). She also tells us about Delfi's plans to expand the use of their technology into other cancers and monitoring applications.

We round out the interview with Susan sharing her personal experience as a woman in the male-dominated life science industry, encouraging women to have confidence in their abilities and to pursue leadership roles:

"I was worried about not having done a startup in a while or being a first-time CEO, but I realized I had the fundamentals to be successful. So, don't doubt yourself. If you feel you have the fundamentals, go for it."

"In the early days at Illumina, there weren't many women in leadership roles. One of my colleagues texted me, "Apparently, the future of sequencing takes 30 men and one woman." I hadn't noticed it until then, but it was true."

Early this week I got to sit with Element Biosciences founders Molly He (CEO) and Michael Previte (CTO) in their comically big board room and we had a great in-depth conversation about their careers and building Element.

All up a fantastic discussion and in my humble 😏 opinion an entire MBA packed into one hour of easy listening!

1. How the hell did you two get here?

- Molly’s personality: competitive sprinting, love of travel and risk-taking, proteomics obsession

- Mike’s early work in cancer research, multi-drug resistance, and developing a deep interest in the complexity of biology

2. The Elemental Elements of Element

- How Molly, Mike, and Matt  met (Illumina, PacBio, Foresight Capital)

- Fundamental motivation: do “smart science” 

- Early challenges in getting the chemistry to work in a moldy lab

3. Flashback: the PacBio and Illumina Years

- PacBio’s single-molecule real-time sequencing: the need to engineer polymerases for precise optical detection

- Illumina’s ecosystem building and how crucial sample prep, workflows, and system-level thinking are for success 

4. Oof: Competing with Illumina

- The need for brand-building and overcoming customer risk aversion (“no one gets fired for buying IBM”)

- Tactics like running customer samples internally to show quality and reliability

5. Differentiating Technology & Vision

- Element’s approach to “smart science” rather than purely high-throughput sequencing data generation

- Building a sequencing system with the ability to capture broader multiomic information (protein engineering, optical methods)

- Emphasis on simultaneous/spontaneous multiomics readouts (DNA, RNA, proteins) from the same samples on the same machine

6. Market Dynamics and Customer Adoption

- Compatibility with Illumina workflows (sample prep, data output) to reduce switching costs

- The impact of new entrants (e.g., Ultima Genomics, Roche and potential market fragmentation around different core competencies

7. Looking Ahead: Multiomics & Precision Medicine

- The need for deeper, integrated biological assays to tackle chronic diseases such as diabetes

- Limitations of only knowing gene sequences without functional data (RNA expression, protein profiles, morphology)

- Long-term goal to move beyond being “just” a sequencer company and enable more holistic, comprehensive biology insights

8. Reflections on Entrepreneurship & Innovation

- “Naivety” (or “delusion”) as both a necessity and a driver of ambition for founders

- The balance between taking big risks and being prepared with strong science/engineering fundamentals

- Continued commitment to building a powerful platform that can adapt to future breakthroughs in life science research

For this episode of the Geonomics Podcast I had the opportunity to interview Gilad Almogy, CEO of Ultima Genomics. Ultima has been making big waves in the NGS market by aggressively pushing down the cost curve, most recently announcing an $80 price point at AGBT. Here's what we talked about:

1. Ultima's Technology and Cost Advantages – Whether a competitor, customer, or analyst, suggest you listen to this - I doubt you'll find a deeper dive anywhere on Ultima COGS.

2. Market Impact and Elasticity – NGS prices have dropped massively in the last few years, but volume is only going up proportionally, leaving growth flat. The discussion highlights how price reductions in sequencing can drive market expansion, similar to Moore’s Law in semiconductors. 

3. AI and Large-Scale Genomic Data – The conversation explores how AI-driven drug discovery and diagnostics require massive genomic datasets. Ultima is involved in large-scale projects, such as sequencing a billion cells for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the UK Biobank proteome project, which could enable foundational AI models for biology. 

4. Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) and Whole Genome Sequencing – We discussed how Ultima’s high-accuracy sequencing (PPM-Seq) is ideally suited to MRD applications. Gilad proposed that a new model is emerging for developing the next generation of tests: companies (e.g. Natera) that are doing high volumes of reimbursed MRD are also generating large data sets that can be used to generate next-gen tests like MCED. 

5. Comparison with Roche’s Sequencing Technology – The discussion touches on Roche’s new sequencing platform, noting its advantages and limitations. Gilad highlights how Ultima benefits from advances in camera technology, allowing for continuous improvements in sequencing efficiency.

6. Conclusion - I promised to come visit Ultima on the way up the west coast to Alaska.

Really interesting roaming chat with Christian Henry, CEO of PacBio.

Genomics Star Reporters Steph Budel (DeciBio/LEK) and Jeremy Preston (Sequins/Illumina /Alex black boat survivor) interviewing movers and shakers at the bar at the Marco Island JW Marriott Tuesday evening:

- Lauren Laing: Investor, Oxford Science Enterprises

- Mike Previte: Element co-founder & CTO

- Manoj Dadlani: Executive Chair, Cmbio

- Shawn Levy: SVP Cellanome, CSO Element

Enjoy!

I was thinking about who would have the most objective opinion on Roche's new NGS technology and Susan immediately jumped to mind.

Her professional experience is completely unique: heading up Illumina's R&D, then heading up Illumina's commercial organization, and now CEO of one of the leading cancer screening companies, so a major NGS customer.

We ended up talking for an hour, so I've decided to do two podcasts with the great content. This is a short one focused on Roche SBX.

I'm going to come back with another episode on Susan's fascinating professional journey, her career advice to woman in life science, and of course deets on her star turn on The Celebrity Apprentice alongside the now president 😳