Founders of Element Biosciences

2026-06-09

How three ex-Illumina scientists built Element Biosciences from UCSD library whiteboards and a small San Diego basement lab into a sequencing platform company by rethinking short-read sequencing from the chemistry up.

By the mid-2010s, short-read sequencing had become central infrastructure for genomics. Illumina had driven sequencing costs down, but the structure of those costs still favoured large, centralised operations. Low per-sample cost depended on batching, high instrument utilisation, large flow cells, and negotiated reagent pricing. Smaller laboratories, clinical research groups, and institutions with irregular sample flow often needed sequencing capacity before they had enough samples to fill the economics of a large run.

The bottleneck was therefore not sequencing alone. It was the link between affordability and centralisation. Large genome centres could lower cost through scale, while smaller users often had to wait, outsource, or absorb the cost of unused capacity. This made sequencing technically available but operationally uneven.

Element Biosciences was founded in San Diego in 2017 by Molly He, Michael Previte, and Matthew Kellinger, three former Illumina scientists who understood short-read sequencing from the inside. Molly He had spent almost eight years at Illumina as Senior Director of Protein Engineering and Enzymology, leading teams that developed protein reagents for sequencing-by-synthesis workflows. She had previously worked at Pacific Biosciences as Head of Protein Sciences, developing reagents for single-molecule real-time sequencing chemistry. Her PhD at UCLA, under Ronald Kabak, was in protein biophysics and biochemistry, and she had earlier worked in protein engineering and drug design at Chiron and Sunesis Pharmaceuticals.

Previte brought a different layer of the system. He completed his PhD in physical chemistry at Boston College and postdoctoral training at MIT, where he combined microscopy with high-throughput biochemical assays. He then worked at Life Technologies on single-molecule and ensemble sequencing approaches before joining Illumina as Associate Principal Scientist. His background connected optics, microscopy, surface chemistry, high-throughput assays, and instrument-level sequencing design.

Kellinger brought the enzymology. His PhD at the University of Texas at Austin focused on reverse transcriptase mechanisms and HIV drug resistance, giving him detailed experience with enzyme kinetics and polymerase behaviour under error-prone conditions. His postdoctoral work at UC San Diego focused on RNA transcription fidelity, a closely related problem. He had also consulted for Pacific Biosciences on enzyme development before joining Illumina as Staff Scientist, where he worked on protein engineering for sequencing reagents.

Together, the founders covered the functional layers of a sequencing platform. Molly He brought protein chemistry, platform experience, and company formation. Previte brought optical physics, microscopy, and systems design. Kellinger brought enzyme kinetics, polymerase engineering, and nucleotide biochemistry. That overlap mattered because a sequencer is not a single technology. It is a coordinated system of chemistry, enzymes, surfaces, optics, software, manufacturing, service, and economics.

The company did not begin as a finished plan to build a new sequencer. The initial idea was to start a reagent company that would improve existing platforms. That changed early. If the founders were going to redesign sequencing reagents deeply enough, they also needed to control the surface, detection, software, and instrument architecture around them. As Previte later described it, “We decided that if we’re making reagents for other companies, we might as well do our own system.”

The company name reflected this logic. The founders deconstructed the sequencing platform into its technical elements, then rebuilt those elements around a different chemistry. Surface chemistry, sequencing chemistry, detection, and data analysis were treated as domains for redesign rather than inherited assumptions.

Early work was modest. The founders used whiteboards in the biomedical library at UC San Diego during extended brainstorming sessions in 2018, after the company’s 2017 founding. The first laboratory was a basement of roughly 1,200 square feet in the Sorrento Valley area of San Diego, reportedly without air conditioning and initially without reliable Wi-Fi. The early team consisted of the founders and a small group of employees. A seed round followed in 2017, but the amount has not been confirmed in primary sources.

John Stuelpnagel joined as board chairman at founding and served until 2023. Stuelpnagel had co-founded Illumina in 1998 and served as its first CEO. His role connected Element to the earlier generation of sequencing platform building. Bryan Roberts of Venrock also joined the board at founding in September 2017, linking the company to one of its first institutional investors.

Item	Detail
Founders	Molly He, Michael Previte, Matthew Kellinger
Institutions	Element Biosciences; prior founder experience at Illumina, Pacific Biosciences, Life Technologies, MIT, UCLA, UT Austin, and UC San Diego
Founded	2017, San Diego, California
Early development setting	UCSD Biomedical Library brainstorming in 2018; first small basement laboratory in Sorrento Valley
Founding chairman	John Stuelpnagel, Illumina co-founder and first CEO; Element chairman from 2017 to 2023
First confirmed financing	$15 million Series A in June 2019, led by Foresite Capital and Venrock
Core technical change	Sequencing by avidity, using multivalent avidite reagents to produce persistent signal at low reagent concentration
First commercial platform	AVITI, announced March 14, 2022; first customer shipments began in June 2022
Licensing model	Proprietary instrument platform, consumables, software, service, and partner application ecosystem
Pricing model	Instrument sales plus sequencing reagent sales; AVITI launched at $289,000; 300-cycle kit price guarantee at $1,680 for the lifetime of the instrument
Distribution mechanism	Direct commercial instrument placement, validated partner workflows, customer support, reagent supply, and global expansion
Adoption scale	112 instruments installed by early 2024; more than 450 instruments installed worldwide by early 2026, according to company-reported JPM figures
Maintenance and support model	Instrument service, reagent supply, chemistry upgrades, software and informatics support, partner validations, and regulated product development for AVITI Dx
Primary use	Short-read sequencing, single-cell sequencing, target enrichment, clinical research, multiomics, and emerging diagnostics workflows
Current status	Private company with AVITI and AVITI24 commercial, VITARI announced for H2 2026 shipping, AVITI Dx in pre-commercial regulatory path, and Samsung Electronics as largest shareholder after the 2026 Series E announcement

The central technical problem was signal persistence. Early reactions could generate signal, but the signal disappeared too quickly to measure comfortably. Previte later described setting up reactions, then needing to run to a microscope before the signal faded. Kellinger described the conceptual shift through avidity: multiple weak interactions, like hooks in Velcro, can create a stable combined attachment. That insight led the team toward the chemistry that became Avidite Base Chemistry.

Standard sequencing by synthesis couples base identification and strand extension. A fluorescently labelled, reversibly blocked nucleotide is incorporated by a polymerase into the growing DNA strand. The instrument images the fluorophore, then chemistry removes the dye and blocking group so the next cycle can proceed. The signal comes from the incorporated nucleotide itself, and the reaction must use enough labelled nucleotide to drive efficient incorporation. That creates reagent cost, chemical burden, and error modes linked to incorporation, imaging, and cleavage.

Element separated detection from extension. The “avidite” is a large fluorescent molecular scaffold with several flexible nucleotide arms; instead of becoming part of the DNA, it briefly grips the correct DNA cluster at many points at once, making a bright, stable signal that can be read and then washed away.

In the detection phase, a large multivalent avidite molecule binds to DNA on the flow cell without being incorporated. The avidite is a polymer scaffold carrying a fluorescent core and multiple nucleotide-bearing arms, each carrying copies of one nucleotide type. Binding arises through simultaneous interactions between the avidite and multiple polymerases associated with a clonal DNA polony. Individually weak interactions become collectively stable, (Arslan, et al. Nat Biotechnol, 2024).

The avidity effect increases effective affinity enough to allow far lower reagent concentrations. Element has claimed roughly 100-fold lower reagent use than Illumina-style chemistry, with nanomolar rather than micromolar avidite concentrations. Molly He described the physical difference in reagent bottles: high-concentration dye reagents carry visible colour, while Element’s reagents are nearly clear. That detail connects molecular design directly to cost structure.

After imaging, the avidite is washed away. A separate engineered polymerase then incorporates a single unlabelled, blocked nucleotide to advance the strand by one position. The cycle repeats after regeneration of the 3-prime hydroxyl. Detection therefore identifies the next base through reversible binding, while extension advances the molecule through an unlabelled incorporation step. The labelled moiety does not remain attached to the growing strand.

Amplification also changed. Instead of bridge PCR, Element uses rolling circle amplification to generate clonal DNA polonies on the flow cell. This polymerase-driven, PCR-free approach was designed to reduce amplification-associated artefacts, optical duplicates, and index hopping. The terminology is deliberate. Element refers to polonies rather than clusters, reflecting the different amplification architecture.

The system’s optical and surface chemistry were built around this signal model. The avidite carries multiple fluorophores and binds across a polony, increasing signal intensity relative to background. Low-binding surface chemistry reduces non-specific fluorescence. A wide-field optical system images the flow cell at scale. These engineering decisions allowed the chemistry to become a working instrument with sufficient throughput, consistency, and cost control.

Homopolymer performance added another technical distinction. Standard sequencing by synthesis can struggle with runs of identical bases because each cycle must distinguish new signal from residual effects of previous cycles. Avidity sequencing detects the next base through a separate binding event, reducing dependence on the previous incorporation state. In the 2024 Nature Biotechnology paper by Arslan et al., avidity sequencing maintained stable error rates through homopolymer runs where standard SBS showed an approximately fivefold error increase. The paper reported accuracy surpassing Q40 across whole-genome and single-cell applications, with 85.4% of base calls at Q40 and 96.2% at Q30.

The discovery was iterative rather than linear. Kellinger described the process in a 2023 Nature feature: “Initially we could generate signals, but they wouldn’t stick around. Then we thought about Velcro: the more hooks you have, the better the attachment. That led us to enzymology, where antibody avidity can give incredible binding power.” Previte described the practical laboratory problem: “We would set up reactions to generate a signal for DNA. You’d have to run from one room to the microscope to be able to see the signal because it was fleeting. We needed something that was persistent and controllable. We started to iterate on that.” The avidite emerged from a practical imaging constraint: the team could generate signal, but not yet hold it in place long enough for reliable detection.

AVITI was announced on March 14, 2022, at a virtual event called “Sequencing Reimagined.” The date was deliberate, since March 14 is Pi Day. Orders and pricing were disclosed at the event, while first customer shipments began in June 2022. This distinction matters: March 2022 marks commercial announcement and ordering, while June 2022 marks operational delivery to customers.

The instrument was positioned as a mid-throughput benchtop sequencer. AVITI launched at $289,000 list price, with a bundle price of $249,000 for purchases of three or more units. At launch, each flow cell produced 800 million reads. In September 2022, Element increased throughput to 1 billion reads per flow cell without changing the kit price. The instrument has two independently operated flow cells, allowing laboratories to run different projects without waiting to fill a larger shared run.

This architecture addressed the batching problem directly. Two independent flow cells allow laboratories to match sequencing output to sample volume more flexibly. A core facility can run a smaller urgent project on one flow cell and a different project on the other. A clinical research laboratory can avoid waiting for enough samples to fill a high-throughput instrument. The economic claim therefore depended on chemistry and instrument design together.

Element reinforced that positioning in August 2022 with a reagent price guarantee. The company committed to flat reagent pricing for the lifetime of the AVITI instrument. The 300-cycle kit price was fixed at $1,680, and the 150-cycle kit launched at $1,080. In a market shaped by list prices, volume discounts, and annual price changes, this was a commercial mechanism as much as a pricing statement. It allowed laboratories to plan sequencing costs with less uncertainty.

In January 2023, Element announced a throughput-based pricing programme it described as the “$200 genome.” Under high-utilisation conditions, laboratories operating several AVITI instruments could access whole-genome sequencing at $200 per 30-fold genome, or about $2 per gigabase. The programme required sustained volume across three to five instruments. At moderate single-instrument use, the cost was roughly $400 per genome, while standard per-kit pricing produced approximately $560 per genome. The programme showed that distributed benchtop instruments could approach centralised economics when local utilisation was high enough.

A sequencer rarely succeeds on instrument specifications alone. It must fit the library preparation, single-cell workflows, target enrichment, variant calling, interpretation, and reporting steps that laboratories already operate. Before and around the AVITI launch, Element assembled a partner network covering these steps. Validated partners included 10x Genomics for single-cell and spatial analysis, New England Biolabs for library preparation, Sentieon for secondary analysis and variant calling, Agilent and Qiagen for target enrichment, and Google’s DeepVariant team for variant-calling performance. Dovetail Genomics, Jumpcode Genomics, and Watchmaker Genomics also validated workflows at launch.

Illumina-compatible library support reduced adoption friction. Laboratories could use established sample preparation workflows rather than redesigning upstream protocols. Cloudbreak Freestyle chemistry later reduced remaining library-conversion requirements for most workflows by enabling onboard circularisation from linear libraries. The platform therefore arrived as an ecosystem rather than a bare instrument.

Loop Genomics was acquired in February 2022, just before AVITI’s launch, adding synthetic long-read capability. The immediate AVITI story remained benchtop short-read sequencing, but the acquisition signalled a broader platform ambition. Element wanted the instrument to support multiple forms of genomic measurement rather than only lower-cost short reads.

Adoption became visible through core facilities and research laboratories that had previously depended on centralised sequencing services. The UC Davis DNA Technologies Core installed AVITI instruments and described per-base costs comparable to the NovaSeq 6000’s largest flow cells at lower throughput requirements. The University of Minnesota Genomics Center installed its first AVITI in mid-2023 and purchased four additional instruments over the following year. These examples matter because they show adoption through workflow fit, not only price.

Commercial traction remains company-reported. At JPM in January 2024, Element reported more than $25 million in preliminary 2023 revenue, a 112-instrument installed base, and more than 160 commercial orders. In January 2025, the company reported roughly $60 million in preliminary 2024 revenue and said its instrument base had more than doubled. It also reported that 55% of customers were outside the United States, 20% were in clinical research, 18% were new to next-generation sequencing, and more than 35% were multi-unit customers. In January 2026, the company reported roughly $85 million in preliminary 2025 revenue, more than 450 instruments installed worldwide, and consumables kit shipments more than doubled year on year. These figures were presented at JPM Healthcare Conference sessions rather than filed as audited public-company accounts.

The financing path reflected the capital intensity of sequencing platform development. The $15 million Series A in June 2019, led by Foresite Capital and Venrock, funded early chemistry and platform work. The $80.3 million Series B in January 2020 brought in Fidelity and JS Capital alongside returning investors. A reported Series B second close of approximately $30 million from RA Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments appears only in secondary sources and should be treated with caution. The $276 million Series C in June 2021 funded the commercial launch period. Element’s own release did not describe a formal lead investor for that round, although some coverage described T. Rowe Price and Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global as co-leads. The $277 million Series D in July 2024 was led by Wellington Management, was described as oversubscribed, and included Samsung Electronics as its first confirmed strategic participant.

The company then expanded from a single sequencing platform into a product portfolio. AVITI LT provides a lower-tier commercial option, with pricing not publicly disclosed. AVITI24, opened for orders in April 2024 at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, extended the platform into multiomics. It added Teton chemistry, enabling simultaneous measurement of RNA, proteins, phosphoproteins, and cellular morphology alongside DNA sequencing in a single integrated run. The instrument listed at $424,000 new, or $150,000 as an upgrade to an existing AVITI. Element reported more than 50 AVITI24 installations by July 2025 and described the system as the first and only commercially available fully integrated multiomic instrument; that phrase should be treated as company positioning. By January 2026, AVITI24 accounted for more than 35% of new instrument bookings, with particular uptake in pharmaceutical research and drug discovery.

VITARI, announced in February 2026, extended the product line into high-throughput benchtop sequencing. Element described the system as priced at $689,000, producing 10 billion reads per run across two independent flow cells with six individually addressable lanes each, at $1 per gigabase and a $100 per genome reagent cost. Run time for a 2 by 150 base-pair run was described as approximately 36 hours. Francisco Garcia, Element’s SVP of Engineering, said the instrument had been three years in development. VITARI runs the same Avidite Base Chemistry as AVITI but required a substantially larger optical field of view paired with higher-resolution imaging. Shipping was targeted for the second half of 2026. Because VITARI had not yet shipped at the time of writing, these remain announced specifications.

The diagnostics path developed in parallel. AVITI Dx is positioned as the regulated diagnostic version of the AVITI system, supporting CE IVD Class A marking in the European Union and targeted for commercial availability in 2026. It supports locked-down validated workflows and an assay design mode, allowing clinical laboratories to run pre-validated or internally developed assays. Applications include newborn screening, oncology testing, and rare disease diagnostics. Revvity announced a collaboration with Element in January 2025 to co-develop an IVD neonatal sequencing workflow, with a research-use version available immediately and the IVD version dependent on regulatory progress.

Element’s commercial trajectory also entered legal conflict with Illumina. Illumina filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Element in May 2025, asserting five patents covering flow cell design and imaging technologies. Element countersued in September 2025, filing antitrust claims alleging that Illumina had threatened customers with punitive pricing on existing NGS consumables and instruments if those customers adopted AVITI, sought exclusive-dealing agreements, and made defamatory statements about Element’s prospects. One allegation in Element’s filing stated that an Illumina representative had told a large teaching hospital that “Element won’t be in business for long; if Illumina needs to, we can just buy them and shut them down.” Element also filed patent infringement countersuits in the US District Court for the District of Delaware and before the Regional Court of Munich. Both sets of actions were active as of June 2026. No legal conclusions should be drawn from ongoing proceedings.

Samsung Electronics entered Element’s capital structure as a strategic investor in the Series D round of July 2024. The investment was confirmed in Element’s press release, but the Samsung-specific amount within the $277 million round was not disclosed. The vehicle was Samsung Electronics directly, operating through its Device eXperience division, not Samsung Ventures or Samsung Catalyst Fund. Sun Young Kim, EVP and head of the Bio-Healthcare Research Department at Samsung Global Research, is listed as a member of Element’s board of directors. The date of his appointment has not been publicly disclosed, and the link between his board seat and the financing rounds remains unclear in the public record.

In June 2026, Samsung invested $175 million in an upsized Series E, becoming Element’s largest shareholder. The total round size beyond Samsung’s confirmed tranche and Samsung’s ownership percentage were not publicly disclosed. The transaction was subject to regulatory approval. TM Roh, president of Samsung’s Device eXperience division, described the investment as combining Samsung’s expertise in artificial intelligence, medical devices, and digital health with Element’s genomics capabilities towards personalised medicine. Some press coverage noted possible future links between Element’s multiomics data and Samsung consumer-device health data, but that remains editorial analysis rather than a confirmed product plan. No specific co-developed product had been announced at the investment date.

The lasting structural consequence of Element Biosciences is still forming. The company has not displaced Illumina, and sequencing remains shaped by incumbent short-read platforms, long-read growth, clinical interpretation bottlenecks, and regulatory requirements. Element’s contribution is more specific: it showed that short-read sequencing economics could be changed inside the chemistry and instrument architecture, rather than only through larger machines and centralised volume.

The broader lesson is operational. Sequencing platforms succeed when chemistry, hardware, pricing, software, and workflow compatibility move together. Element’s story is the translation of avidity chemistry into a commercially usable platform, with predictable consumable pricing, local workflow flexibility, a partner ecosystem, and a product roadmap extending from benchtop research sequencing into multiomics, diagnostics, and high throughput. Each step required the same founding team to be right about a different layer of the same problem.

Founders of Element Biosciences

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