Dalton Bioanalytics: comprehensive molecular analysis
Our blood and cells are complex mixtures of DNA, RNA, proteins, metabolites, lipids, sugars, metal ions, and more. All of these are deeply important in informing our health and wellness. Today, we can measure a few of these molecules routinely, but what are we missing might be in the rest of the data. Dalton Bioanalytics is creating a comprehensive and inexpensive method to look at all these molecules to bring about truly multiomics data.
I sat with Austin Quach, CSO of Dalton Bioanalytics, to talk about his platform from inventing it in his lab to starting a company.
How did you become interested in multiomics?
Why are we waiting for disease to strike before treatment? Why do we continue to treat patients using one-size-fits-all? These questions were really the seeds that led to our interest in multiomics. What it boils down to is that we lack the quantity and quality of data to make early detection and precision medicine really successful. There’s a ton of information beyond each person’s genetics including their age, sex, ethnicity, dietary and lifestyle habits, exposure to drugs, medications, pollutants, and infections, tissue, organ, and psychosocial health, etc. The only way to really automatically capture most of this information is to integrate multiple layers of bioinformation — a.k.a. multiomics. For example, genomics (DNA), transcriptomics (RNA), proteomics (proteins), microbiomics (microbes), metabolomics (metabolites), and exposomics (exposures), etc.
Unfortunately, current multiomic approaches are prohibitively expensive. In fact, many have tried to push this approach forward only to realize that it is too expensive to scale. This is when things really got interesting for us — what if we could invent a way to do multiomics using a single low cost assay? The performance specs might not be as good as the individual specialized -omics assays but we might be able to hit that sweet spot where we capture enough data to become invaluable but still maintain affordability. It was basically like that aha moment when you realize what makes smartphones so great: they may not be as good as specialized tools but who has the time and energy to lug around a backpack full of expensive equipment?
How did you decide to start the company and how does your team come together?
After about a year of tinkering in the lab with the goal of developing an all-in-one assay, we managed to pull off an amazing technical feat: for the first time in history we had developed an assay that was capable of measuring all major types biochemicals in a single run. I decided that the quickest route to use technological advance to benefit society was to start a company and commercialize it. With early guidance from the IndieBio team, I began my cofounder search and shortly after I met Seungjun who at the time was building his own company developing AI to help diagnose prenatal congenital heart disease from ultrasound imaging. We quickly realized that we were essentially working towards the same goal of helping people through early detection and we founded Dalton Bioanalytics to pursue this mission.
How does your technology work? What was the key insight?
We invented a new way to use existing analytical instrumentation — tried-and-true high resolution liquid chromatography mass spectrometry — to analyze proteins, lipids, electrolytes, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, metabolites, and other small molecules using a single laboratory procedure. It’s really a Frankenstein of modern bioanalytical techniques. The key insight was that if we could somehow get all of the different types of misbehaving molecules to behave well, we might have a shot at analyzing everything in a single run. This ended up taking 6+ corequisite techniques to get it to really come to life — take out any of these and the assay is severely compromised. It’s easy to understand why most experts believe what we’ve accomplished is impossible — it basically looked like it wasn’t working until finally it worked.
What lessons did you learn transitioning from science to entrepreneur at IndieBio?
Coming from a science background it was interesting to see the stark differences in culture between science and business, and even between business and the startup world. There were a few key lessons that I learned transitioning from science to entrepreneurship: 1) the primary goals of communication are different — in science it’s about being detailed and technically accurate whereas in a pitch it’s really about distilling the most important parts — the details can be delved into later, 2) in this vein, cool technological firsts by themselves have value in science but in entrepreneurship it’s really about executing on creating real-world solutions to problems that people are willing to pay for, and 3) though this is gradually changing, it’s not uncommon for a lone researcher to pull off something great in science. In building a company on the other hand, there’s simply too much to do, across too wide a skillset. In essence, science can be played as a solo game, but startups are a team sport.
How do you think your success as a company will change healthcare?
If everything goes according to plan, we’ll build a self-sustaining research platform from which we can continue to develop new and improved algorithms biomarkers that plug into our multiomic data. Over time, this means we’ll be able to create an affordable semi-annual liquid biopsy analysis for early detection of most diseases and conditions. As the system continues to develop, there will also be opportunities for data-driven drug development and precision medicine.
What milestones are in the near future?
In the near-term, our milestones are to build out our commercial laboratory with state-of-the-art instrumentation, to optimize our assay for maximum sensitivity, coverage, & throughput, and to launch our multiomic analysis platform for the research community. We’re currently working on several models for engaging with researchers ranging from simple research as a service to more exciting co-development partnerships.
Watch Dalton Bioanalytics’ pitch on IndieBio Demo Day, Thursday February 6th, 2020 in San Francisco or via LiveStream. Register here!
