Tech Tuesday: Genotyping

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – In this week’s Tech Tuesday, our friends at UF Innovate and SCAD Media introduce us to Leandro Neves, the CEO of RAPID Genomics, a genotyping company. Leandro talks to us about their DNA extraction lab is helping producers and researchers when it comes to plants and animal. Leandro also touches on how the growing Gainesville ecosystem is helping the company grow.

Happy Tech Tuesday. I’m Melanie Moron with UF Innovate Accelerate. And today, I am joined with Leandro Neves from Rapid Genomics. Leandro, thanks so much for joining us today.

Of course. Yeah. It’s great to be here.

Tell me a little bit more about Rapid Genomics.

Yeah. We are a genotyping company, which means that we look at the DNA of certain plants and animals and help growers and help seed producers and livestock producers identify the best plants and animals that they’re going to be bringing to the industry.

And what type of tools do you guys use?

Yeah, so we use a lot of DNA sequencing. And also data analysis through what we call bioinformatics, which is applying computer science to some biological questions. And we have this laboratory where we run a lot of the samples.

And tell me a little bit more about this lab we’re standing in right now.

Yeah. We are actually standing on our DNA extraction laboratory. Every sample that comes through this door is going to be extracted and we’re going to generate DNA for them. That’s what this machine actually is doing. It’s a machine that’s automatically going from tissue. Let’s say this could be a piece of a leaf. And going from that tissue all the way to DNA. That’s what this room here is about. And that’s what this machine is doing is extracting DNA from plants or animals.

And how has the innovation ecosystem in Gainesville helped you guys grow?

Yeah, it’s been helping a lot. As a company we’ve been around for about 11 years. We’ve been joining this phase of improving entrepreneurship in Gainesville. And it’s great to be meeting with other entrepreneurs, discussing ideas, because a lot of the problems are shared and we can bounce ideas and grow together. Very fun that.

And what’s next for Rapid Genomics?

We recently merged with another company called LGC. Rapid Genomics is now part of a much larger company. We’re trying to scale the operations, grow more of the team, so we’re hiring. We’re bringing more people to our facility. And just really trying to grow the business in a world presence.

And that’s it for today’s Tech Tuesday episode. I’m Melanie Moron and we’ll see you next week.

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