Jim Blair, Ph.D., a founder of Domain Associates has seen genomics grow from its infancy into the rapidly developing space it is today. In 1981, as managing director at Rothschild, Inc., Dr. Blair invested funds managed by his firm in the start-up financing for Applied Biosystems, developers of the gene sequencers later used in the Human Genome Project.
Since then, sequencing technologies have improved and become increasingly efficient; resulting in a reduction of the cost of whole-genome sequencing from $10 million to less than $500. While genomics has made great strides, Blair foresees this is merely the beginning of a clinically rewarding development cycle.
Dr. Blair points out that we still need to have sequencing information from large numbers of individuals, which can be combined with accurate medical histories of the same individuals, in order to understand the full meaning of genomic variations. As such, genomics has yet to fulfill the promise of providing the richness of diagnostic information that seems to accompany the vision most observers have for the new science.
Read more about Jim Blair’s experience investing in genomics and which companies he sees as as innovators.