Helmy Eltoukhy
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. Guardant Health was founded to pioneer non-invasive liquid biopsy approaches for cancer diagnosis, monitoring, personalized medicine treatment, and research. Education Eltoukhy attended Bellarmine College Preparatory, studying college level math during his freshman year, and graduating in 1997. Subsequently, Eltoukhy studied electrical engineering at Stanford University, completing an accelerated Bachelor of Science (BS) in two and a half years, followed by Master of Science (MS) and Doctorate (PhD) degrees. 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. 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. Personal life On 09/18/2020 Carson Eltoukhy filed a Family - Marriage Dissolution/Divorce lawsuit against Helmy Eltoukhy. Career Genome Technology Center