Iridia Announces Appointment of Thomas H. Cauley, Ph.D. as Vice President, Engineering

Cauley to Lead Development of Company’s Proprietary DNA Data Storage Technology


SAN DIEGO, March 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Iridia™ Inc., a pioneer in DNA-based data storage, today announced the addition of “Trey” Thomas H. Cauley III, Ph.D. to the newly created position of Vice President, Engineering as the company accelerates the integration of its proprietary biochemistry with semiconductor and microfluidic technologies designed to address the rapidly expanding, critical data storage problem.

Iridia’s unique and patented method of data storage integrates semiconductor and nanofluidic technology with a disruptive enzyme-based chemistry to add DNA-based bits representing “0s” and “1s” in a programmable fashion. This offers the potential to add orders of magnitude more storage capacity compared to current archival technologies such as magnetic tape and hard drives paving the way for commercially viable DNA data storage solutions. In addition, Iridia’s solution is the world’s first affordable, integrated data storage solution that can write, store, and read using the same device for a fraction of the cost of competing technologies.

“I am delighted to welcome Trey to our company. He brings the perfect mix of entrepreneurial mindset together with bio-MEMS and microfluidic engineering expertise to rapidly advance our development efforts,” said Murali K. Prahalad, Ph.D., President and CEO of Iridia. “We look forward to his impactful contributions as we continue to build the company and accelerate development of working prototypes.”

Trey is an accomplished engineering leader, innovative engineer, and product development lead with over 13 years of industry experience in integrated systems, including two years of entrepreneurial experience in starting and operating start-up biomedical device businesses. His experience ranges from systems engineering, plastics development, mechanical engineering, and micro-fluidic design to business development, intellectual property development, and manufacturing transfer. Prior to joining Iridia, Trey served in roles of increasing responsibility with Talis Biomedical Corporation with the most recent positions of VP of Engineering and VP of Research. Previously Trey served as Senior Systems Engineer at Bio-Rad Laboratories where he led the development of the Automated Droplet Generator under ISO13485 design. Prior to Bio-Rad, Trey served in entrepreneurial / engineering roles with Triaxis Medical Devices and AgLinx. Early in his career, Trey held research positions with Sandia National Laboratories, Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies (CSET) and NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program.

Trey is the inventor on over 15 patents (provisional and non-provisional included). He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University as well as, a Masters in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering both from the University of California Berkeley.

About Iridia, Inc.
Headquartered in Carlsbad, CA, Iridia™ Inc. strategically combines proprietary enzymology and semiconductor technology to revolutionize long-term data storage. By leveraging DNA, nature’s perfected data storage system, the company is developing a durable, decodable, and ultra-high-density mode of data storage, that significantly reduces the infrastructure requirements and environmental impact compared to current approaches. Iridia’s solution is the world’s first affordable, integrated data storage solution that can write, store, and read data in the form of DNA. Using proprietary semiconductor technologies and biochemistries, the company can manipulate single molecules of DNA to write information and read it back using the same device for a fraction of the cost of competing technologies. For more information, please visit www.iridia.com.

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