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Helmy Eltoukhy

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Helmy Eltoukhy
Alma materStanford University
BS, Electrical engineering
MS, Electrical engineering
PhD, Electrical engineering
Stanford Genome Technology Center (Postdoc)
Known forCo-Founder & CEO, Guardant Health
Co-Founder & CEO, Avantome
SpouseCarson Eltoukhy (? - 2020)
Scientific career
FieldsGenomics
Electrical engineering
Thesis An integrated system for de novo DNA sequencing
Doctoral advisorAbbas El Gamal[1][2]

Helmy Eltoukhy is an American scientist and a businessperson who co-founded startups Avantome and Guardant Health. He is best known for his contributions to genomics, semiconductor DNA sequencing, and personalized medicine. His startups were acquired by Illumina in 2008. Avantome was founded to develop and commercialize semiconductor-based DNA sequencing, during the race for the $1,000 genome.[3] Guardant Health was founded to pioneer non-invasive liquid biopsy approaches for cancer diagnosis, monitoring, personalized medicine treatment, and research.[4][5]

Education

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Eltoukhy attended Bellarmine College Preparatory, studying college level math during his freshman year,[6] and graduating in 1997.[7] Subsequently, Eltoukhy studied electrical engineering at Stanford University, completing an accelerated Bachelor of Science (BS) in two and a half years,[6] followed by Master of Science (MS) and Doctorate (PhD) degrees.[8] Eltoukhy’s doctoral thesis, “An integrated system for de novo DNA sequencing” research was completed in the laboratory of Abbas El Gamal, for a project that combined genomics and sensor engineering.[1][8][9][10] Eltoukhy discovered that low cost CMOS image sensors coupled to light-emitting DNA sequencing reactions could form the basis for building a less expensive, portable DNA sequencer.[6]

Career

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Genome Technology Center

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After graduation, Eltoukhy completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University’s Genome Technology Center,[8] investigating low-cost DNA sequencing technologies as part of the Human Genome Project.[11] Eltoukhy’s research focused on developing new assays and detection methods, with an emphasis on semiconductor-based approaches for DNA sequencing. That research was funded, in part, by one of the first National Human Genome Research Institute grants awarded for massive parallel sequencing (also known as Next Generation Sequencing or NGS).[12][13]

Avantome and Illumina

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In 2007, Eltoukhy and Mostafa Ronaghi co-founded the biotechnology startup company Avantome, to accelerate the commercialization of semiconductor sequencing technologies and affordable high-throughput DNA sequencing.[3][8] Eltoukhy was president and CEO of the new company until 2008, when Avantome was acquired by Illumina.[3][14] As part of the acquisition terms, Ronaghi and Eltoukhy joined Illumina, where Eltoukhy continued pioneering genomic research as director of Advanced Sequencing Development until 2012.[8] At Illumina, Avantome’s CMOS/semiconductor sequencing platform became the basis for Project Firefly, a program to develop an "integrated sequencing solution simple and affordable enough to install in hospitals for routine testing".[3][15] In 2018, Illumina launched iSEQ, a new product developed using Avantome’s CMOS sensor approach combined with nanowell technology; iSEQ delivered on the original Avantome goals of low cost instrumentation and reduced per-sample processing cost in a long read format.[14][16]

Guardant Health

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In 2012, Eltoukhy and AmirAli Talasaz co-founded Guardant Health, established to "forge a new frontier" in cancer detection and treatment using artificial intelligence[17] and a big data approach.[18][19] They developed new methods to detect and monitor the low levels of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) fragments released into the bloodstream of people who have cancer, enabling cancer detection and monitoring using minimally-invasive blood tests (liquid biopsies) which are lower cost and lower risk compared to traditional tissue biopsies.[18][19][20]

Under Eltoukhy’s direction as CEO, Guardant Health raised over one billion dollars (US) in financing,[21][22] launched three products, established collaborations with oncology researchers, and gained recognition as a healthcare innovator in liquid biopsy approaches used for cancer diagnosis and research.[17][20][23][24] Named as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer[2][23] and to Fierce Biotech's Fierce 15 list[25] in 2015, the company launched Guardant360, the first commercially available comprehensive liquid biopsy for cancer in 2014.[4][26][27] The test uses a combination of genomics and signal processing innovations to simultaneously profile the mutational signature of several (54 at time of product launch; 74 as of 2019)[28] circulating tumor DNA genes in patient blood samples.[2][29][30] By 2016, the test was in use by oncologists to guide personalized treatment plans for late-stage cancer patients,[20][31] and to pair advanced cancer patients with clinical trial opportunities.[26][32] The Food and Drug Administration granted Guardant360 Expedited Access Pathway status in 2018.[33] GuardantOMNI, an expanded testing panel measuring levels of 500 circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) genes, was launched in 2017.[28][34] Released for research use in 2019, LUNAR is an assay for high sensitivity detection of changes in genomic and epigenetic signatures of ctDNA in early stage and recurring cancers.[29][31][34]

In 2017, a venture capital funding round led by SoftBank raised $360 million,[26] allowing Guardant Health to expand operations globally[35] and continue to focus on accelerating progress towards early cancer detection.[31][36] Eltoukhy and Talasaz rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq when Guardant Health went public (IPO) on October 4, 2018.[37] In January 2019, Guardant Health entered a partnership with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to develop companion diagnostics.[38][39] In October 2019, the company initiated ECLIPSE, a 10,000 patient colorectal cancer study, in an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of using blood tests to screen for colorectal cancer in the general population.[40][41]

Eltoukhy was named to Time Magazine’s inaugural 50 Most Influential People in Healthcare (2018)[42][43] and Fortune’s 40 under 40 (2017).[44][45]

Representative publications

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Journal articles

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  • El Gamal A and Eltoukhy H (2005) CMOS image sensors. IEEE Circuits and Devices Magazine 21(3), 6-20[46]
  • Eltoukhy H et al. (2006) A 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS bioluminescence detection lab-on-chip. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits 41(3)[47]
  • Lanman et al. (2015) Analytical and Clinical Validation of a Digital Sequencing Panel for Quantitative, Highly Accurate Evaluation of Cell-Free Circulating Tumor DNA. PLOS One PMID 26474073[48]
  • Odegaard J et al. (2018) Validation of a Plasma-Based Comprehensive Cancer Genotyping Assay Utilizing Orthogonal Tissue- and Plasma-Based Methodologies. Clinical Cancer Research 24(15) 3539-3549.PMID 29691297
  • Zill OA et al. (2018) The Landscape of Actionable Genomic Alterations in Cell-Free Circulating Tumor DNA from 21,807 Advanced Cancer Patients. Clinical Cancer Research 24(15), 3528-3538 PMID 29776953

Patents

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  • Engineered luciferases, (2009).[49]
  • Biological analysis arrangement and approach therefor, (2012).[50]
  • Multibase delivery for long reads in sequencing by synthesis protocols, (2012).[51]
  • Methods and systems for detecting genetic variants, (2015).[52]
  • Methods to detect rare mutations and copy number variation, (2016).[53]
  • Methods for multi-resolution analysis of cell-free nucleic acids, (2017).[54]

Personal Life

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Helmy Eltoukhy was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is currently in the process of legally dissolving his marriage to Carson Eltoukhy. Carson filed for divorce on September 18, 2020, in the San Mateo County Superior Courts. The case, presided over by multiple judges, including Sharon K. Cho, Don R. Franchi, and Susan Greenberg, remains active with pending matters as of the latest update in October 2024. The dissolution proceedings address matters involving minor children, as noted in the docket entries. Both Carson and Helmy Eltoukhy are represented by their respective attorneys, who continue to navigate the complexities of this family court case as they work towards finalizing the separation.[55]

Recognition

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Eltoukhy was named to Time Magazine’s inaugural 50 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2018, Fortune’s 40 under 40 in 2017,[44][45] and the San Francisco Business Times 40 under 40 in 2019.[56] He has served as an invited speaker or panelist at the World Economic Forum,[57] Fortune Brainstorm Health 2017,[58] The Business of Personalized Medicine Summit 2018,[59][60] HLTH (healthcare innovation) 2018,[61] and the World Medical Innovation Forum 2016.[62]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Stanford Engineering, Abbas El Gamal - Previous Students". Stanford University. 2019. Retrieved 5 Nov 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Shinal, John (20 Feb 2015). "More-accurate cancer tests based on computer math". USA Today. Retrieved 5 Nov 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d Carroll, John (23 Jul 2008). "Illumina snares sequencing tech in $60M buyout". fiercebiotech.com. Questex, LLC. Retrieved 19 Oct 2019.
  4. ^ a b Hay, Timothy (17 Jul 2015). "Liquid Biopsy the Key to 'Active Surveillance' of Cancer, Guardant Health Says". The Wall Street Journal. USA. Retrieved 18 Oct 2019.
  5. ^ Harry Glorikian; Malorye Allison Branca (20 November 2017). "Liquid Biopsies". MoneyBall Medicine: Thriving in the New Data-Driven Healthcare Market. Taylor & Francis. pp. 110–. ISBN 978-1-351-98433-1. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Hindery, Robin (2015). "Keeping Pace with Cancer: Helmy Eltoukhy's startup, Guardant Health, is making waves in the healthcare world by using cutting-edge DNA sequencing technology to track cancer in real time". Gentry Health. California, USA: The Golden State Company. pp. 108–109. Retrieved 19 Nov 2019.
  7. ^ "BellarmineBells". Instagram. Bellarmine College Preparatory. 23 Mar 2016. Retrieved 19 Nov 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Illumina to Buy Avantome for Up to $60M; Long, Cheap Reads Will Target Sanger". genomeweb.com. 29 Jul 2008.
  9. ^ Eltoukhy, Helmy (2006). An integrated system for de novo DNA sequencing (Thesis). Stanford University. OCLC 71209106.
  10. ^ Dan V. Nicolau; Ramesh Raghavachari; Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (2003). "Modeling and simulation of luminescence detection platforms (Salama K, Eltoukhy H, Hassabi A, and El-Gamal A)". Microarrays and combinatorial technologies for biomedical applications: design, fabrication, and analysis. SPIE. ISBN 978-0-8194-4766-1. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Human Genome Project Completion: Frequently Asked Questions". genome.gov. National Human Genome Research Institute. Retrieved 22 Oct 2019.
  12. ^ "NHGRI Seeks Next Generation of Sequencing Technologies". genome.gov. 14 Oct 2004. Retrieved 22 Oct 2019. Mostafa Ronaghi, Stanford Genome Technology Center, $1.8 million (3 years) "Pyrosequencing Array for DNA Sequencing"
  13. ^ Ron Kerr, Helmy Eltoukhy, Bambi Francisco (23 Feb 2016). $1,000 is the "right price" for human genome (video). Vator. Retrieved 22 Oct 2019.
  14. ^ a b "Illumina Unveils Mini Targeted Sequencer, Semiconductor Sequencing Project at JP Morgan Conference". GenomeWeb. USA. 11 Jan 2016. Retrieved 16 Oct 2019.
  15. ^ "At AGBT, Illumina Provides Additional Details on Project Firefly". genomeweb.com. 12 Feb 2016.
  16. ^ "Illumina Launches Semiconductor Sequencer, Partners With Thermo Fisher, Releases Prelim Earnings". genomeweb.com. 9 Jan 2018.
  17. ^ a b Medeiros, Joao (7 Feb 2019). "How SoftBank ate the world: Led by the charismatic Masayoshi Son, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank's Vision Fund is taking over tech, one company at a time. This is the story of what happens if the disruptors are disrupted". Wired. Retrieved 25 Oct 2019.
  18. ^ a b Leuty, Ron (11 May 2017). "Blood money: Peninsula liquid biopsy company gets $360M injection". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 3 Nov 2019.
  19. ^ a b "Blood-based liquid biopsies are the new frontier in cancer diagnosis". fiercebiotech.com. Questex, LLC. 20 Jul 2015. Retrieved 20 Oct 2019.
  20. ^ a b c Cha, Ariana Eunjung (28 Apr 2016). "There's a new sheriff in town in Silicon Valley — the FDA". The Washington Post. San Francisco, CA, USA. Retrieved 20 Oct 2019.
  21. ^ Terry, Mark (10 Sep 2018). "2 Bay Area Biotechs Launch IPOs Worth a Combined $200 Million". biospace.com. BioSpace. Retrieved 12 Nov 2019.
  22. ^ Fox, Michelle (4 Oct 2018). "Guardant Health soars almost 70% in first day of trading". CNBC. USA. Retrieved 12 Nov 2019.
  23. ^ a b Tansey, Burnadette (19 Sep 2014). "Forum Highlights Innovators Working in Global Public Interest". xconomy.com. Xconomy, Inc. Retrieved 24 Oct 2019.
  24. ^ Leuty, Ron (22 Jan 2015). "9 potential life science IPOs to watch". San Francisco Business Times. USA. Retrieved 25 Oct 2019.
  25. ^ Al Idius, Amirah (11 Dec 2017). "FierceMedTech's Fierce 15, 2017". Fiercebiotech.com. Questex, LLC.
  26. ^ a b c Sawers, Paul (11 May 2017). "Cancer screening firm Guardant Health raises US$360 million to sequence tumor DNA of 1 million patients". VentureBeat. USA. Retrieved 22 Oct 2019.
  27. ^ Regalado, Antonio (24 Jun 2015). "The Great Cancer Test Experiment". MIT Technology Review. MIT. Retrieved 12 Oct 2019.
  28. ^ a b Harper, Matthew (12 Nov 2018). "A $3 Billion Startup's Shares Gain On Hopes For A Cancer Blood Test". Forbes. Retrieved 11 Nov 2019.
  29. ^ a b O'Connor, Leo (9 Jan 2019). "JP Morgan Healthcare, Day 2: Thermo Fisher, Exact Sciences, Guardant, Hologic, Caris, and More". Retrieved 6 Nov 2019.
  30. ^ Arun Rao; Piero Scaruffi (2013). A History of Silicon Valley: The Greatest Creation of Wealth in the History of the Planet. Omniware Group. ISBN 978-1-4903-3040-2. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  31. ^ a b c Philippidis, Alex (27 Mar 2019). "Five-Year Super Successes in Genomics and Precision Medicine". ClinicalOmics. Retrieved 8 Nov 2019.
  32. ^ Teichert, Erica (20 Aug 2016). "Innovations: Startup's liquid biopsies match cancer patients with trials". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications. Retrieved 22 Oct 2019.
  33. ^ "FDA Grants EAP Designation to Guardant's NGS-Based Liquid Biopsy". fdanews.com. FDA News. 22 Feb 2018. Retrieved 10 Nov 2019.
  34. ^ a b Philippidis, Alex (14 Jan 2019). "Guardant Health Launches Blood-Based Early Cancer Assay for Research Use". Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. Mary Ann Liebert. Retrieved 6 Nov 2019.
  35. ^ Baker, Liana; Roumeliotis, Greg (19 May 2017). "Dealmakers aplenty, SoftBank's Son looks for wonks". Reuters. Retrieved 25 Oct 2019.
  36. ^ Terry, Mark (28 Feb 2019). "Guardant Health's Liquid Biopsy Wins in Head-to-Head Trial in Lung Cancer". biospace.com. Retrieved 3 Oct 2019.
  37. ^ "Opening Bell, October 4, 2018: Ringing today's opening bells are Mateusz Morawiecki, Republic of Poland prime minister, at the NYSE, and Guardant Health with CEO Helmy Eltoukhy and President AmirAli Talasaz at the Nasdaq". CNBC. 4 Oct 2018. Retrieved 18 Oct 2019.
  38. ^ Hale, Connor. "Guardant's blood test tracks microsatellite instability status on par with tissue biopsy in new study". FierceBiotech. Quantex, LLC. Retrieved 25 Oct 2019.
  39. ^ "Guardant Health to Develop Blood-Based CDx for AstraZeneca Drugs". genomeweb.com. GenomeWeb. 13 Dec 2018. Retrieved 10 Nov 2019.
  40. ^ Lovelace, Berkeley Jr. (3 Jun 2019). "We're not far from using blood tests to detect early-stage cancer, says CEO of Silicon Valley oncology firm". CNBC. Retrieved 15 Oct 2019.
  41. ^ Columbus, Gina (24 Oct 2019). "Pivotal Study Examines Blood Test as CRC Screening Method". onclive.com. Intellisphere, LLC. Retrieved 12 Nov 2019.
  42. ^ "The Health Care 50: The 50 most influential people in health care (2018)". Time. 18 Oct 2018. Retrieved 25 Oct 2019.
  43. ^ "The Health Care 50: The 50 most influential people in health care (2018) - Helmy Eltoukhy and AmirAli Talasaz". Time. 18 Oct 2018. Retrieved 25 Oct 2019.
  44. ^ a b "Fortune's 40 under 40 (2017)". Fortune. 2017. Retrieved 22 Oct 2019.
  45. ^ a b "Fortune Magazine – Guardant Health CEO And President On This Year's "40 Under 40" List". califesciences.org. California Life Sciences Association. 2017. Retrieved 21 Oct 2019.
  46. ^ El Gamal, A; Eltoukhy, H (2005). "CMOS image sensors" (PDF). IEEE Circuits and Devices Magazine. 21 (3): 6–20. doi:10.1109/MCD.2005.1438751. S2CID 8813059. Retrieved 9 Nov 2019.
  47. ^ Eltoukhy, H; Salama, K; El Gamal, A (March 2006). "A 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS bioluminescence detection lab-on-chip". IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. 41 (3). doi:10.1109/JSSC.2006.869785. S2CID 12890520.
  48. ^ Lanman, Richard B.; Mortimer, Stefanie A.; Zill, Oliver A.; Sebisanovic, Dragan; Lope, Rene; Blau, Sibel; Collisson, Eric A.; Divers, Stephen G; Hoon, Dave S. B.; Kopetz, E. Scott; Lee, Jeeyun; Nikolinakos, Petros G.; Baca, Arthur M.; Kermani, Bahram G.; Eltoukhy, Helmy; Talasaz, AmirAli (16 Oct 2015). "Analytical and Clinical Validation of a Digital Sequencing Panel for Quantitative, Highly Accurate Evaluation of Cell-Free Circulating Tumor DNA". PLOS One. 10 (10): e0140712. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1040712L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140712. PMC 4608804. PMID 26474073.
  49. ^ US application 2009286299, Ronaghi, Mostafa; Eltoukhy, Helmy & Bazargan, Leila, "Engineered luciferases", published 2009-11-19 
  50. ^ US 8313904, El Gamal, Abbas; Eltoukhy, Helmy & Salama, Khaled, "Biological analysis arrangement and approach therefor", published 2012-11-20, assigned to The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University & inventors. 
  51. ^ US 8236532, Ronaghi, Mostafa & Eltoukhy, Helmy, "Multibase delivery for long reads in sequencing by synthesis protocols", published 2012-08-07, assigned to Illumina, Inc. & inventors. 
  52. ^ EP 3087204, Eltoukhy, Helmy & Talasaz, AmirAli, "Methods and systems for detecting genetic variants", published 2015-07-15, assigned to Guardant Health, Inc. 
  53. ^ EP 2893040, Talasaz, AmirAli & Eltoukhy, Helmy, "Methods to detect rare mutations and copy number variation", published 2016-11-02, assigned to Guardant Health Inc. 
  54. ^ US 9850523, Chudova, Darya; Eltoukhy, Helmy & Mortimer, Stefanie Ann Ward et al., "Methods for multi-resolution analysis of cell-free nucleic acids", published 2017-12-26, assigned to Guardant Health Inc. 
  55. ^ "CARSON ELTOUKHY vs. HELMY ELTOUKHY". UniCourt. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  56. ^ "40 Under 40 Awards". evanta.us. eventa.us. 2019. Retrieved 25 Oct 2019.
  57. ^ "Convening Innovators from the Science and Technology Communities" (PDF). weforum.org. World Economic Forum. 2014. Retrieved 22 Oct 2019.
  58. ^ Mukhurjee, Sy (3 May 2017). "This Simple Cancer Test Comes With a Big Caveat". Fortune. Fortune Media IP Limited. Retrieved 22 Oct 2019.
  59. ^ "The Business of Personalized Medicine". personalizedmedicinesummit.com. BPM Summit. 2018. Retrieved 2 Oct 2019.
  60. ^ "Very Brief Blog: Bay Area "Business of Personalized Medicine Summit" - December 6, 2018". discoveriesinhealthpolicy.com. Discoveries in Health Policy: Ideas for or from an evolving healthcare system. 2018. Retrieved 6 Nov 2019.
  61. ^ "HLTH Announces First 150+ Senior Healthcare Executive Speakers, Including 100+ CEOs and Founders". thekennedyforum.org. The Kennedy Forum. 5 Oct 2017. Retrieved 5 Oct 2019.
  62. ^ "World Medical Innovation Forum 2016" (PDF). neuroscienceinnovationforum.org. World Medical Innovation Forum. 2016. Retrieved 3 Oct 2019.
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