Stephen Turner in conversation with David C. Brock
April 22, 2010
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Palo Alto, California
Stephen Turner founded Pacific Biosciences to transform the way humankind acquires, processes, and interprets data from living systems. Turner is the author of over 30 scientific papers in such fields as nanofluidics, genetics, cell attachment to chemically and topographically modified surfaces, x-ray lithography, and process modeling. He is listed as the inventor on nine U.S. patents and more than twenty published patent applications.
Turner engaged CHF senior research fellow David C. Brock in a high-caliber conversation about the founding and future of his company and addressed a range of topics from government funding to the future of personalized genomic medicine.
Video
The following clips have been excerpted from CHF's History Live conversation with Stephen Turner.
Clip 1: The Return on Government Funding
Turner discusses the importance of government funding, its role in developing a DNA-sequencing industry in the United States, and the return on the public's investment.
Clip 2: DNA Sequencing and the Pace of Technology
In this clip, Turner reflects on Brock’s impression that “the future is now,” describes the pace of technological change in DNA sequencing, and speculates about contemporary expectations for its continued evolution.
Clip 3: Personalized Medicine as a Useful Technology
Offering insight on our current moment in history, Turner describes the critical connections between DNA sequencing and clinical medicine and reflects on society’s readiness for the applications of this new technology.
Full-Length Interview
Click here to request a DVD of the hour-long interview.