Raymond McCauley

Singularity Chair: Digital Biology

Raymond McCauley is a scientist, engineer, inventor, investor, and entrepreneur working at the nexus of biotechnology. Raymond explores how applying technology to life -- biology, genetics, medicine, longevity, agriculture -- is affecting every one of us. He uses storytelling and down-to-earth examples to show how quickly these changes are happening, right now, and where it may head tomorrow. His work, pioneering outlook, and unique profile have been featured in Wired, Forbes, Time, CNBC, Science, and Nature.

Raymond is the Chair of Digital Biology at Singularity University; principal of Exponential Biosciences, a private consultancy; a theme advisor to Cathie Wood's ARK Invest, home of good thinking about investing in disruptive innovation; Co-founder and Chief Architect for BioCurious, the world's first hackerspace for biotech, a not-for-profit where professional scientists, DIYbio hobbyists, and entrepreneurs come together to design the next big thing to come out of a Silicon Valley garage; Part of the team that developed next generation DNA sequencing at Illumina, where he worked in bioinformatics, cancer sequencing, and personal genomics.

Raymond's academic work includes postgraduate studies at Texas A&M University, Stanford, and UC Berkeley in electrical engineering, computer science, biophysics, biochemistry, bioinformatics, nanotechnology, and cancer biology. He previously worked with Genomera, Illumina, Ingenuity Systems, TANSTAAFL Media, QIAGEN, Viatel, NASA, and other state and federal agencies. Raymond develops and advises a variety of companies and organizations. Raymond's favorite project is raising his twin boys to be superheroes.

"I think kids should hack biology the way they do Legos, and there should be more biotech startups than Starbucks. I want to do for science communications what Disney did for cartoons."

Speaking Topics

Biotechnology

We review advances in genomics, genetic engineering, cellular agriculture, systems biology, and personalized medicine. Tools once restricted to biotechnology professionals are democratizing, becoming more like personal computers and smartphones, and appearing everywhere. What does this mean for our jobs, our families, our lives, and ourselves? And what’s coming next?