Fred Turner (entrepreneur)
Fred Turner is biotechnology entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Curative, Inc.[1][2][3][4] He was featured in the Science Council list of top 100 practicing scientists in the UK in 2013 and was ranked #1 in the European Union Contest for Young Scientist in 2013.[5][6] Turner was also featured on the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science list.[7]
Early life and education
As a 17-year old, Fred won the UK's Young Engineer of the Year Award for building a PCR device intended to find the gene responsible for his brother's red hair.[3] He went to Oxford to study biochemistry but dropped out.[4]
Career
Turner moved from the UK to San Francisco to found TL BioLabs, which made genetic tests for cow herds. TL was backed by the Thiel Foundation.[8] The company pivoted and rebranded to Shield Bio, which had a focus on diagnostic testing for gonorrhea and sepsis.[4] It was backed by a16z[9] and Y-Combinator and the testing was made available to over 10,000 patients in medical centers.[10]
Following Shield Bio's closing, Turner founded Curative to focus on improving outcomes for sepsis patients, but the company quickly turned focus to COVID-19 diagnostics in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]
References
- ^ "COVID-19 Testing at Scale while Reimagining Healthcare: An Interview with Curative Cofounders Fred Turner, Isaac Turner, and Vlad Slepnev". Cell Systems. 11 (4): 329–330. 21 October 2020. doi:10.1016/j.cels.2020.09.010. PMC 7577258.
- ^ Darmieto, Laurence (24 May 2021). "COVID-19 turned a tiny start-up into a testing giant. But can its results be trusted?". LA Times. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ a b "DNA Testing Machine: Fred Turner, UK Teen, Builds DNA Testing Machine In His Bedroom". Huffington Post. 6 April 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ a b c "Fred Turner, Curative's boy wonder, suffers negative result". The Times. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ Staff (17 January 2014). "The UK's 100 leading practising scientists". Times Higher Education.
- ^ Deighton, Ben (25 September 2013). "Home DNA lab wins EU young scientist prize". ec.europa.eu.
- ^ Knapp, Alex (November 14, 2017). "30 Under 30 In Science: Inventing The Future One Atom At A Time". Forbes.
- ^ Osher, Christopher (8 May 2021). "Colorado's troubled partnership with California COVID-19 testing firm". The Gazette (Colorado Springs). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ "Investments". a16z.
- ^ "Shield Bio Profile". Y Combinator.
- ^ Johnson, Madliene (23 April 2020). "Curative, KorvaLabs Partner to Create High-Throughput COVID-19 Oral Fluid Testing Lab". GenomeWeb. Retrieved 29 June 2021.