Venture Voice

Fred Turner was only 16 when he built his first PCR machine, a tool used to amplify small segments of DNA or RNA. He was interested in sequencing his own genome, but he soon discovered there were others who had a need for these kinds of cheaper, faster testing capabilities. When English pedigree farmers came calling, he pivoted his attention to agriculture, but soon found himself in need of funding to be able to scale to meet demand. That led him to the US, where he went through Y Combinator, which ultimately funded his first startup, Shield Diagnostics. Fred’s focus would return to human diagnostics, first with an STD testing business, where he learned, among other things, “The US healthcare system is just a bit of a mess.” What he couldn’t have predicted at age 16 when he first built that PCR machine is that less than a decade later, a global pandemic would bring the world to a halt, and PCR-based testing would play a critical role in getting people tested quickly and helping prevent the spread of COVID-1