Christopher P. Adams is an American scientist, entrepreneur, and inventor who founded and led (as chief executive officer) multiple biotechnology companies, including Mosaic Technologies and Andarix Pharmaceuticals.[1][2] Adams has made a notable contribution to the field of genetics as a co-inventor (with Steve Kron) of "bridge amplification," a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique that paved the way for development of DNA sequencing and genome sequencing.[3] Geneticist George Church and computational biologist Rob Mitra adapted Adams' and Kron's technique to be used for clonal amplification.[4][5]
Adams has spoken about the difficulties he faced in launching Mosaic and getting investors to buy in. He cites being "an African American without a graduate degree" as a major reason he faced skepticism and rejection while attempting to start Mosaic, and that his persistence was a key factor that helped him "overcome investors' reluctance."[6] Adams has said:
"Keep in mind, I had no Ph.D. and no MBA and no real serious executive business experience. Couple that with being an African-American and I really didn't fit the mold. I also want to make it plain, though, that I think we're over that now. I do have a track record now. I think that it's almost a non-factor going forward."[6]
References edit
- ^ "AWE USA 2019 - Chris Adams". www.awexr.com. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- ^ "AWE USA 2017 - the world's largest AR & VR event". awe2017.html. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- ^ US 5641658, Adams, Christopher P. & Kron, Stephen Joseph, "Method for performing amplification of nucleic acid with two primers bound to a single solid support", issued 1994-08-03, assigned to Mosaic Technologies Inc. and Whitehead Biomedical Institute
- ^ Mitra, R. (1999-12-15). "In situ localized amplification and contact replication of many individual DNA molecules". Nucleic Acids Research. 27 (24): 34e–34. doi:10.1093/nar/27.24.e34. PMC 148757. PMID 10572186.
- ^ US 6485944, Church, George M. & Mitra, Rob, "Replica amplification of nucleic acid arrays", issued 1999-03-12, assigned to Harvard College
- ^ a b Griffith, Ted (2020-06-22). "Passing the test: Mosaic Technologies devises 'revolutionary' blood-testing product". www.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on 2003-12-05. Retrieved 2020-08-10.