How Chai is Transforming the Field of Biotechnology

For Josh Perfetto, biotechnology started out as a captivating hobby six years ago. But today, it’s all serious business. Perfetto started Chai Bio with the goal of bringing the complex and expensive realm of bio tech gadgets to the average joe. And he’s succeeding with flying colors.

Chai's first machine is the Open qPCR, a thermocycler which can identify any strand of RNA or DNA. This technology has been around for two decades, but has been notoriously inaccessible.

“The machines to do this technique are traditionally $20,000 up to like $100,000. And even if you had that machine, that’s not enough,” Perfetto says.

Along with the 50 pound machine, you would need specialized reagents and the scientific know-how. None of which you could come by easily.

Until now, Perfetto says.

Chai’s Open qPCR machine is roughly $2,000 and the size of a video game console. It can be taken into rain forests and powered by sunlight, used at local breweries to test for spoilage, and at swimming pools to test for harmful bacteria. For anybody and everybody, that’s Chai’s goal, and they’re definitely getting there.