Liberating Genomics To All

Clear Labs translates rich and vast genomic data into insights that help inform and direct genomic surveillance.

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Our story

Clear Labs’ turnkey next generation sequencing platform accelerates outcomes and improves accuracy - from food-borne pathogens to infectious diseases.

2023

May 2023

Clear Labs launches Clear Dx™ Microbial Surveillance WGS

Clear Labs expands its offering to include whole genome sequencing of bacterial pathogens, a critical step toward faster outbreak detection.
Learn About Clear Dx™ Microbial Surveillance WGS
2022

December 2022

Clear Labs inks distribution partnership with Illumina to include short read sequencing-by-synthesis (SBS) technology in its fully integrated platform

The partnership expands the utility of the Clear Dx™ platform to other sequencing applications.
March 2022

Clear Labs’ Real-Time Technology Solution Supports Over Half of U.S. Public Health Labs

Clear Labs announces that its Clear Dx™ solution provides rapid detection of COVID-19 variants for more than 50% of state public health labs.
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2021

October 2021

Clear Labs receives NPIP approval

Clear Safety™ Salmonella is approved by the National Poultry Improvement Plan for use in detecting Salmonella in poultry and poultry processing environments.
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January 2021

Clear Labs launches groundbreaking solution for surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and its mutations.

These variants, as well as future mutations, can now be identified in real-time by a revolutionary new rapid WGS workflow solution launching today from Clear Labs, provider of the only fully-automated next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform for turnkey diagnostics.
Learn About Clear Dx™
2020

September 2020

Clear Labs Granted EUA by FDA for SARS-CoV-2 Novel Descriptive Diagnostic

Clear Labs announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the company Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its Clear Dx™ SARS-CoV-2 novel descriptive diagnostic. The system extends available options for labs to scale infectious disease diagnostic testing.
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2019

September 2019

Clear Safety™ Listeria receives AOAC certification

In inclusivity and exclusivity evaluations to test the sensitivity and specificity of the Clear Safety™ Listeria method, the platform performed as well or better than the relevant methods from FDA’s Bacterial Analytical Manual and FSIS’s Microbiology Laboratory Guidebook.
July 2019

Clear Safety™ Listeria announced

Clear Labs announced new Listeria testing and Environmental Mapping capabilities on its Clear Safety™ platform, offering a three-in-one solution for Listeria detection, persistence monitoring and visualizing contamination incidents.
March 2019

Clear Labs inks distribution partnership with Oxford Nanopore Technologies to offer a fully integrated sample to insight solution leveraging long read technology

As part of the agreement, Clear Labs implements ONT's long-read sequencing technology platform into a fully automated, highly rapid NGS platform.
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2018

November 2018

Clear Safety™ Salmonella receives AOAC certification

To receive the approval, AOAC evaluated Clear Safety™’s methods and found that the Clear Dx™ platform performs as well or better than the FDA’s Bacterial Analytical Manual and FSIS’s Microbiology Laboratory Guidebook.
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July 2018

Clear Safety™ launches

Clear Safety™ is announced, becoming the only automated food safety platform for routine pathogen detection. By using Clear Safety™, companies and labs can use next-generation sequencing on their own to modernize their food safety management systems
Learn About Clear Safety™
April 2018

NGS sequencing ready for remote deployment

Clear Labs announced a pilot program for routine food safety testing. Until then, food labs and brands relied heavily on PCR or antigen-based methods for on-site testing.
2017

March 2017

Clear Labs moves to its new home

To accelerate product development, Clear Labs continued to expand, requiring the company to move to a larger office with more space and technology capabilities. The company is currently located at 3565 Haven Ave #2, Menlo Park, CA 94025 and has over 50 teammates.
2015

November 2015

First customer onboarded

The onboarding of Clear Labs’ early customer marked the first use of NGS technology in a commercial, regulated setting. Since then, demand for NGS technologies has grown globally in the food safety space, and Clear Labs currently has customers across North America, Europe, and Asia.
September 2015

Clear Transparency introduced

In addition to announcing its $6.5M Series A round, Clear Labs unveiled its Clear Transparency products: food authenticity testing, GMO screening, microbiome testing, and whole-genome sequencing. With that announcement, NGS officially entered the food safety market.
Learn About Clear Transparency
2014

June 2014

Largest molecular food database created

To bring NGS to a broader market, Clear Labs needed to create the world’s largest food database. Today, our database has millions of entries in its database, far exceeding any other food database, including that of the U.S. government.
January 2014

Clear Labs founded

Genomic sequencing was at a critical inflection point. Costs were dropping faster than Moore’s Law, and Clear Labs co-founder Sasan Amini saw the opportunity to develop applications for next-generation sequencing technologies beyond the clinical market to help food brands mitigate recalls and reduce foodborne illness and outbreak. So, he brought together experts in genomics, computer science, biology, and engineering, and Clear Labs was born.

Our Team

Clear Labs was founded in 2014 by a group of software engineers and genomic scientists to bring NGS technologies to the food safety industry. We are helping the world’s most respected food brands and service labs ensure the quality and safety of their products.

Leadership Board of Directors Advisory Board

Sasan Amini

Sasan combined his academic expertise and passion for healthy living when he co-founded Clear Labs with a mission to set a new paradigm for liberating genomics in clinical and applied markets. Prior to serving as the CEO of Clear Labs, he worked in the Advanced Research department at Illumina. Sasan earned his PhD in Genomics from Princeton and holds multiple patents and publications in the field.

Sasan Amini

Co-Founder and CEO Show Bio

Ramin Khaksar

Ramin leads the vision and strategy for teams of dedicated scientists across 5 divisions at Clear Labs. He brings extensive experience from the industry, government and academia. Previously, he was CEO of Dapco, a Biotech R&D company and served as Sr Advisor to the Ministry of Health. Ramin was Associate Professor and Chair of Food Science at SBMU. He has published over 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Ramin Khaksar

CSO and COO Show Bio

Jeff Field

Jeff brings more than 20 years of commercial leadership experience spanning the biotech, pharmaceutical, managed care and molecular diagnostics industries. Prior to Clear Labs, he’s scaled high-performing teams at 5 start-ups and has a passion for launching disruptive technology, transforming health and improving patient care. Jeff spent four years commercializing an NGS system targeting infectious diseases.

Jeff Field

Chief Commercial Officer Show Bio

Edward Fan

Ed is an accomplished healthcare business leader with experience across the banking, diagnostics, biotech and pharma industries. He was previously an investment banker at J.P. Morgan and Lazard, where he advised healthcare companies on IPOs, M&A, and other financial matters. Ed has also held operating roles at Sanofi, Werfen, and Shire and advised IVD companies at Boston Biomedical Consultants.

Edward Fan

Chief Financial Officer Show Bio

Henrik Gehrmann

Henrik is an enthusiastic engineering leader and entrepreneur with 20+ years experience creating Software Applications. He earned his Master’s Degree in Copenhagen and has since been working at several Silicon Valley startups focusing on Enterprise SaaS. His expertise includes Cloud-based Systems, Data Analytics, and UX Design. He enjoys building great teams and leading projects through the product lifecycle.

Henrik Gehrmann

Senior VP of Engineering Show Bio

Charles Vaske

Charles has 20 years experience in bioinformatics research and entrepreneurship. Prior to joining us at Clear Labs, Charles co-founded Five3 Genomics, where he developed clinical whole-genome and whole-transcriptome LDTs for cancer treatment selection as Chief Scientific Officer. His research efforts have resulted in numerous patents and publications in cancer research and systems biology.

Charles Vaske

VP of Bioinformatics Show Bio

Sahar Zandi

Sahar is a versatile and proven Human Resources Executive and Chief of Staff. With an MS in counseling, she was able to focus on data driven analyses and employee life cycle development. Her ability to combine her background expertise with sharp business acumen allows her to flex in her role as Head of Human Resources and as Chief of Staff. She brings an innovative and human centered approach to her work.

Sahar Zandi

Head of Human Resources and Chief of Staff Show Bio

Mostafa Ronaghi

Mostafa is an experienced life sciences entrepreneur and was involved in the start-up of four life sciences companies including Avantome (acquired by Illumina); NextBio, a search engine for life science data (acquired by Illumina); ParAllele Bioscience (acquired by Affymetrix, Inc.), and Pyrosequencing AB, which was renamed to Biotage in 2003.

Mostafa was a principal investigator at Stanford University from 2002 until 2008 and focused on the development of novel tools for molecular diagnostic applications. He earned his Ph.D. from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. He holds more than 50 pending and issued patents and has written more than 70 peer-reviewed publications in journals and books.

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Sasan Amini

Sasan has a passion for applying new technologies to solve real world problems and promote healthy living. After many years of experience in the life sciences, he decided to combine his passion and expertise to start Clear Labs with the mission of making food transparent. After getting his PhD in Genomics from Princeton, Sasan spent a few years in the Advanced Research department at Illumina, working on the most state-of-the-art Genomics approaches and platforms. Sasan received his B.Sc. in Biotechnology from the University of Tehran, where he entered as a gold medalist in the International Biology Olympiad. While in college, he served as the youngest Board member of the Iranian National Biology Olympiad Committee and authored a problem book on Mendelian Genetics which has been re-printed 10 times over the past decade. He holds multiple patents and publications in the field.

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Gaurav Garg

Gaurav Garg is a Founding Partner of Wing Venture Capital. Gaurav is a board member at several private technology companies, including Cohesity, Shape Security, and Instart Logic. He incubated and helped build FireEye, Ruckus Wireless, and Jasper into significant businesses, serving as a board member at each for more than ten years. Gaurav has served on the boards of several other companies, including some that staged successful exits via IPOs or acquisitions such as NetScaler and MobileIron. He also worked extensively with, and co-sponsored investments in, Aruba and RingCentral. Gaurav was a partner at Sequoia Capital from 2001 to 2010, and a Special Limited Partner at the firm from 2010 to 2012. Prior to joining Sequoia, he founded Redback Networks in 1996, and served as a board member and Senior Vice President of Product Management. Prior to Redback Networks, he held various engineering positions at SynOptics and Bay Networks. Gaurav holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering and a BS in Computer Science, all from Washington University in St. Louis.

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Michael R Taylor

Mike Taylor is a senior fellow at the Meridian Institute and a consultant to the Global Food Safety Partnership, a public-private partnership hosted at the World Bank. His primary interests are food safety globally and food security in Africa and other developing regions.

Until June 1, 2016, Mr. Taylor was Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He led the comprehensive overhaul of FDA’s food safety program Congress mandated in the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 and oversaw all of FDA’s food-related activities, including its nutrition, labeling, food additive, dietary supplement, and animal drug programs.

Mr. Taylor served previously at FDA as a staff attorney and as Deputy Commissioner for Policy (1991-94) and at USDA as Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service and Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety (1994-96). Prior to joining FDA in July 2009, he spent nearly a decade in academia conducting food safety, food security and public health policy research, most recently at George Washington University’s School of Public Health. He also served during that time as a Senior Fellow at the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, where he conducted research on U.S. policies affecting agricultural development and food security in Africa.

In the private sector, Mr. Taylor founded the food and drug practice and was a partner in the law firm of King & Spalding, was Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto Company, and served on the boards of the Alliance to End Hunger and RESOLVE, Inc. He is currently co-chair of the board of STOP Foodborne Illness and a member of the board of Clear Labs, Inc. Mr. Taylor is a graduate of Davidson College and the University of Virginia School of Law.

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Michael Robach

Michael Robach has over 40 years of experience in the food industry, most recently as former Vice President, Corporate Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory for Cargill. He is also the co-founder and former President for Safe Supply of Affordable Food Everywhere (SSAFE).

Currently, Robach serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and a member of the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association’s Research Advisory Committee. His memberships include the American Meat Institute, the National Turkey Federation, the International Association of Food Protection, the Institute of Food Technologists, and the American Society for Microbiology.

Additionally, Mike has worked with the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on harmonized animal health and food safety standards. He is also a former member of the Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Council Executive Committee for the Grocery Manufacturers Association and he has worked closely with the USDA and FDA regarding food safety policy, HACCP, and regulatory reform based on science.

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Greg Yap

Greg is a partner at Menlo Ventures and focuses on life science and digital health technology investments.

Prior to Menlo, Greg was at Illumina Ventures as entrepreneur-in-residence, where he focused on new investments related to genomics. Previously, Greg was CEO and cofounder of Biodesy, a next-generation protein analysis company, and then CEO and cofounder of PyrAmes, a digital health remote monitoring company. Greg also worked at Roche Diagnostics / Ventana, where he led a global market-leading cancer diagnostic assay business, serving 20 million patients and delivering $500 million revenue per year. Greg’s operating experience also includes roles as the first healthcare entrepreneur-in-residence at GE, chief operating officer at Cellpoint Diagnostics, an early liquid biopsy startup, vice president and general manager for genetics and molecular diagnostics at Affymetrix, and consultant for McKinsey & Company.

Greg received his bachelor’s degree in molecular biology (summa cum laude) from Princeton University, and his MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business

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Gregory Armstrong, MD

Gregory Armstrong, MD, is an infectious disease physician with expertise in the epidemiology of viral infectious diseases and the application of microbial genomics to health, both in the United States and globally. He has more than a quarter-century of experience in public health, including 25 years at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he led programs in such areas as control of viral hepatitis and viral respiratory diseases, refugee resettlement and global polio eradication. He served as the founding director of the agency’s Advanced Molecular Detection Program, which spearheaded the adoption of next-generation sequencing and genomic epidemiology throughout the agency as across the US public health system, and serves as a model for how technology can transform the practice of public health. He has published over 80 articles and book chapters and currently works as an independent consultant.

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Don Schaffner

Dr. Donald W. Schaffner is Extension Specialist in Food Science and Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University. He has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications and educated thousands of Food Industry professionals through short courses and workshops in the United States and around the world. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Academy of Microbiology. He has served as an Editor for the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology since 2005. Dr. Schaffner was the president of the International Association for Food Protection in 2013-2014. In his spare time he co-hosts a food safety podcast at foodsafetytalk.com.

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Gary Acuff

Dr. Gary R. Acuff holds the title of Director of the Center for Food Safety and Professor of Food Microbiology within the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University. Dr. Acuff’s professional memberships include the International Association for Food Protection, serving as President in 2008, as well as the American Society for Microbiology and the Society for Applied Microbiology. He is a member of the Editorial Committee for the 5th Edition of the Compendium of Methods for the Microbiological Examination of Foods and was a member of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food from 1992 to 1997. He currently serves as a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Advisory Committee. Acuff has published more than 80 articles in technical journals and has authored several chapters on food microbiology in various references and textbooks.

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Kent Juliot

Kent Juliot brings over 30 years of food safety and quality leadership in the food industry. Prior to Ardent Mills, where he serves as VP of Research, Quality & Technical Solutions, Kent was VP of Quality with ConAgra Foods for 11 years, where he led people and programs focused on food safety and quality for ConAgra’s commercial business unit, international operations, and customer quality liaisons for food service and private label businesses. Kent spent the first 19 years of his career with Kellogg’s, where he served as associate director of operations quality, overseeing corporate internal auditing, laboratory analytical method standardization, manufacturing plant food safety & environmental management. Kent holds Bachelors & Masters degrees in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin.

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Samuel Godefroy

Samuel Godefroy is a Full Professor of Food Risk Analysis and Regulatory Systems at the Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University Laval, Québec, Canada. He is also a professor at the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at Queen's University of Belfast, in the UK. Samuel is currently leading the development of a Food Risk Analysis and Regulatory Excellence Platform (FRAREP) hosted by the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF) of Université Laval.
Dr. Godefroy currently serves as a senior food science and regulatory expert on a number of advisory bodies and committees domestically and internationally, including expert advice to food safety projects led by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and serving on the International Advisory Committee of the China Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA). Samuel authored over 70 scientific publications and book chapters and serves on a number of international editorial boards of scientific journals related to food safety and nutrition. Dr. Godefroy received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI). He holds degrees in Chemistry, Biochemistry and Chemical Engineering from the same University and from the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris, France,

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