Genap­sys fi­nal­ly un­veils vaunt­ed se­quencer, but can it dent Il­lu­mi­na?

Hesaam Es­fand­yarpour holds what looks like a mi­ni-cool­er up to the com­put­er screen in his Cal­i­for­nia of­fice.

Es­fand­yarpour is in his late-30s, with crows feet creep­ing up against a youth­ful face. He wears a gray po­lo and the de­vice in his hand — with its hard plas­tic-look­ing shell, blue-and-white pat­tern, and a white plas­tic pad­dle re­sem­bling a han­dle jut­ting out the front — might con­tain diced straw­ber­ries and peanut-but­ter sand­wich­es to meet mom and the kids at a So­Cal park. In­stead, Es­fand­yarpour tells me it’s go­ing to change med­i­cine and bio­phar­ma re­search.

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