Baillie Gifford is an Edinburgh investment partnership founded in 1908, famous for ultra-long-horizon, high-conviction growth investing — its early stakes in Amazon, Tesla and NIO are classics. Its "actual investors" philosophy holds world-changing companies on 5-10 year views; AUM is around $120bn. The Insights column carries its managers' investment views and thematic research.
This report says biotechnology is moving from 'observing' to 'reading, understanding, and engineering' life, and the author is optimistic. As we learn to actively write and edit life's instructions, companies providing key tools will become more valuable. Three holdings are highlighted: Oxford Nanopore (its real-time DNA sequencing can analyze brain tumor genes during surgery in two hours instead of weeks); Guardant Health (its liquid biopsy has over 1.3 million patient samples and detects early-stage colorectal cancer at 62%); Beam Therapeutics (it's developing gene editing to correct single errors in DNA).
One-sentence summary: Biotechnology is shifting from "observation" to "reading, understanding, and engineering," and the author holds a bullish stance on this trend.
Oxford Nanopore's real-time DNA sequencing technology can reduce genetic analysis in brain tumor surgery from several weeks to under two hours, directly guiding resection decisions during the operation. The institution has held Oxford Nanopore since 2015 and believes its technology has expanded from simply reading DNA sequences to simultaneously capturing additional layers of biological information, such as methylation. The author notes that this speed is particularly critical in suspected lung infections or sepsis—rapid identification of pathogenic microorganisms can replace lengthy cycles of repeated testing, leading to correct treatment more quickly.
The author's original statement: "Clinicians are also using the technology to sequence DNA from brain tumours during surgery. The new test can return a result to the surgical team in under two hours, rather than the several weeks required for conventional analysis, potentially helping surgeons decide how much tumour to remove while the operation is still underway." This means: "Clinicians are also using the technology to sequence DNA from brain tumours during surgery. The new test can return a result to the surgical team in under two hours, rather than the several weeks required for conventional analysis, potentially helping surgeons decide how much tumour to remove while the operation is still underway."
However, the author also cautions that generating a richer biological picture is only part of the challenge—its clinical value depends on our ability to interpret increasingly complex data and translate it into useful insights.
Guardant Health has accumulated over 1.3 million patient samples and 700,000 epigenetic profiles, and the second-generation version of its colorectal cancer screening test Shield has improved the detection rate for stage I cancer from 55% to 62%. Founded by former Illumina scientists Helmy Eltoukhy and AmirAli Talasaz, the company is a pioneer in liquid biopsy, using circulating tumor DNA in the blood to guide treatment decisions, detect cancer recurrence, and more recently, expand into early disease screening.
The author argues that by combining proprietary sequencing analysis with machine learning algorithms, Guardant can extract increasingly detailed images of what is happening inside the body from a single blood draw. The institution judges that over the next decade, liquid biopsy could become a frontline tool in healthcare, enabling earlier detection and potentially better outcomes for diseases such as Alzheimer's and lung cancer.
Beam Therapeutics is developing DNA base editing technology to correct single errors in the genetic code, while Twist Bioscience provides synthetic DNA to translate researchers' designs into physical sequences. The author believes we are moving beyond simply reading and understanding biology toward actively writing and editing its underlying instructions—transitioning from observers to architects.
This shift toward actively engineering living systems will have profound implications for the tools and infrastructure required to operate at this frontier. The author draws an analogy with the semiconductor manufacturing industry: as capabilities improve, designs become more ambitious, placing ever-higher demands on production tools and processes. A similar dynamic is likely to emerge in biology—from sequencing and computation to synthetic DNA and highly specialized manufacturing equipment, the ecosystem of enabling technologies will become increasingly complex.
The author's original statement: "As our ambitions grow, so too will the tools and techniques required to realise them, potentially making those enabling technologies ever more valuable. The flagellum is a reminder of just how far there is to go: nature arrived at this level of engineering long before we did." This means: "As our ambitions grow, so too will the tools and techniques required to realise them, potentially making those enabling technologies ever more valuable. The flagellum is a reminder of just how far there is to go: nature arrived at this level of engineering long before we did."
The institution believes that biotechnology is shifting from "observation" to "reading, understanding, and engineering," and this transition will increase demand for the technologies and infrastructure needed to design, test, and manufacture biology. Readers should note that this is a position-holder's perspective—the institution has held Oxford Nanopore since 2015, and its arguments naturally contain narrative elements that support its holdings.
| Ticker | Direction | Author's One-Sentence View | Key Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford Nanopore | Hold & Watch | Real-time sequencing technology is transforming the speed of clinical decision-making; long-term bullish | Brain tumor surgery gene analysis reduced from weeks to under two hours |
| Guardant Health | Hold & Watch | Liquid biopsy is expanding from cancer to broader disease screening; could become a frontline tool in the next decade | Over 1.3 million patient samples, 700,000 epigenetic profiles; colorectal cancer screening first-stage detection rate rose from 55% to 62% |
| Beam Therapeutics | Not specified | Base editing technology can correct single errors in the genetic code, representing the frontier of engineered biology | Developing DNA base editing technology |
| Twist Bioscience | Not specified | Providing synthetic DNA to translate researchers' designs into physical sequences is key to enabling technology | Synthetic DNA services |