A company on the brink of a scientific and medical breakthrough, or a hoax on an epic scale? Russ Swan considers the story of Theranos.
What follows is a tale of laboratory technology, a technological revolution, a precocious main protagonist, and billions of dollars. It is a riches-to-rags tale with elements of the Emperor’s new clothes, more than a bit of hubris, and a tragic twist involving a British scientist.
The story of Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, is still playing out. This is what we know so far, and it is truly jaw dropping. It begins with a first year chemical engineering student at Stanford, spending a summer placement in Singapore assisting in the development of a protein microarray for a diagnostics test for Sars. On returning to California, Holmes (for it was she) quickly dropped out of college to set up her own firm to work on similar technologies.
Source: labnews
