HERSHEY, Pa. Olivier Noel is only 28 years old, but hes already changing the face of genetics research.

The Haitian native is in his sixth year of Penn State College of MedicinesMD/PhD Medical Scientist Training Programand was recently recognized by Forbes as one of the countrys brightest young entrepreneurs on its30 Under 30 list in the science industry. Hes the founder of DNAsimple, a startup aimed at accelerating genetics research by connecting DNA donors with research scientists. The company provides scientists with access to critically important samples, significantly speeding up the pace for genetics research.

People dont realize it can take years to get samples, but really only a month to get an assignment done which is a little bit ridiculous, Noel said. Its a problem for geneticists across the board. You can have a million dollars to do a study, but waste three years trying to get samples.

Noel explained a light bulb went off when he attended a genetics conference at the recommendation of Dr. Roger L. Ladda, whom he had been shadowing with the intent of focusing his residency on genetics.

The keynote speaker at the conference was talking about how he was studying a disease not really prevalent in the Western world, and the way they were able to get a DNA sample to validate was through Facebook. The joke at the time was that Facebook is the new way of doing genetics. I realized, wow, that worked well for one case but thats not the way science should get done, Noel said.

Noels big break was when the company was accepted into the Y Combinator program, which includes such notable alumni as Dropbox, Airbnb and Reddit. DNAsimple was one of 32 companies accepted from more than 6,500 applicants worldwide, he said. But he credits his doctoral advisors former Penn State faculty member Dr. Glenn S. Gerhard and Penn State College of Medicine Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyJames Broach for teaching him about genetics and exposing him to the Penn State Institute for Personalized Medicine.

Learn more about Noel and his work in this Penn State Medicine article.

Last Updated February 14, 2017

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College of Medicine graduate student launches genetics research startup - Penn State News