Ian Derrington

CEO & Founder, Supernal Intelligence | PhD Physics, University of Washington Inventor of Nanopore Sequencing Technology | Creator of Managen.ai | Founder of Make Truth Matter

Builder at the intersection of AI infrastructure, biophysics, and the question of what intelligent systems should actually be for.

Education

Ph.D. in Physics — University of Washington, Seattle
- Developed next-generation DNA sequencing methods with sub-angstrom precision
- Published in Nature Biotechnology, PNAS, and other top journals
Certification in Entrepreneurship and Innovation — Stanford Graduate School of Business (2019)
B.S. in Engineering Physics — CU Boulder (2001–2005)
B.S. in Applied Mathematics — CU Boulder

Professional Experience

Principal Data Scientist, Roche (2016–present)

Leading AI/ML initiatives across multiple divisions for responsible and efficient AI use
Pioneering division's Generative AI implementation and governance
Awarded 2023 Roche Internal Entrepreneur Grant for genetics-focused foundation models
Coordinating interdisciplinary teams for next-generation DNA sequencing technology
Developing foundation language models for genetics and proteins

Founder & CEO, Make Truth Matter (2019–present)

501c3 nonprofit combating epistemic pollution and misinformation
Built online communities of 350–500 participants for critical thinking education
Developed frameworks for better communication and information evaluation

Next-gen Technology Consultant, Illumina (2011–2013)

Created analyses enabling next-generation sequencing technology toward industrial realization

Post-Doctoral Research, University of Washington (2011–2016)

Developed foundational components of nanopore sequencing technology
Created Single Molecule Picometer Resolution Nanopore Tweezers (SPRNT)

Leadership

President, Career Development Organization (2009–2011) — networking events connecting physics students with employers
President, UW Climbing Club (2008–2010) — increased membership by 50%

Biophysics Research

My research pioneered Nanopore DNA sequencing technology — a molecular-scale "DNA scanner" that has transformed genomic analysis. I played a significant role in developing the first functional technology of this kind, making several fundamental contributions. Full research page →

Selected Publications

Nanopore DNA Sequencing with MspA — Derrington, I.M. et al. PNAS (2010). Demonstrated MspA's sensitivity for DNA sequencing.
Reading DNA with the MspA Nanopore — Manrao, E., Derrington, I.M. et al. Nature Biotechnology (2012). First enzyme-controlled DNA motion through a nanopore.
Single Molecule DNA Detection — Butler, T., Pavlenok, M., Derrington, I.M. et al. PNAS (2008). Engineered MspA for DNA translocation.
Detection and Mapping of 5-methylcytosine — Laszlo, A., Derrington, I.M. et al. PNAS (2013). Direct epigenetic marker detection via nanopore.
Decoding Long Nanopore Sequencing Reads — Laszlo, A.H., Derrington, I.M. et al. Nature Biotechnology (2014). First multi-kilobase reads of genomic DNA.
Subangstrom Measurements of Enzyme Function — Derrington, I.M. et al. Nature Biotechnology (2015). Sub-angstrom precision measurements of Hel-308 helicase.
Increasing Accuracy of Nanopore Sequencing — Noakes, M.T. et al. incl. Derrington, I.M. Nature Biotechnology (2019). Continuous scanning method.
Nanopore Tweezers — Nova, I.C. et al. incl. Derrington, I.M. PNAS (2023). Picometer-resolution RNA polymerase measurements.

Patents

Artificial Mycolic Acid Membranes (2011)
Analyte Sequencing with Nanopores — US Patent 9588079 (2011)
Nanopore-based Analysis of Protein Characteristics — US Patent 10359395 (2019)
Methods for Nanopore-based Polymer Analysis (2015)

AI Research & Development

Epiphysics — project page

A framework for understanding how representations change under forces, applicable to any substrate. Theory (Epimechanics) develops the mathematical grammar; Epiphysics is the empirical program. Includes proofs on minimum-cost kinetic energy and applications from organizational efficiency to AI scaling laws. Open source.

Managen.ai — project page

Research platform for tracking and analyzing the Generative AI landscape. Covers models, architectures, research papers, tools, and organizational strategies for navigating AI evolution.

Bottlenecks Institute — project page

Co-founder & AI Technology Advisor. Research organization identifying and removing critical barriers to progress across energy, climate, biotech, and AI.

Supernal Intelligence — project page

CEO & Founder. Building the infrastructure layer for human-AI collaboration:

Product	Description
ClawX.ai	AI agent execution and orchestration
ClawTree.ai	Agent family tree — lineage and relationships
SoulShare.ai	Portable, versioned AI identity
AdoptAHuman.ai	Meaningful human-AI pairing
Universal Command	Define once, deploy to CLI/API/MCP
Supernal Interface	Universal interface for human-AI collaboration
Coding.Supernal.ai	Open-source AI coding assistant
TTS API	High-quality text-to-speech for developers
Supernal Family	Educational songs and stories for kids

Companies & Ventures

Venture	Role	Period	Status
Supernal Intelligence	CEO & Founder	2023–present	Active
Bottlenecks Institute	Co-founder, AI Advisor	2025–present	Active
Make Truth Matter	Founder & CEO	2019–present	Active (501c3)
Roche	Principal Data Scientist	2016–present	Active
Illumina	Technology Consultant	2011–2013	Completed

Policy, Ethics & Civic Projects

Bill of Computational Rights

A foundational framework for the rights of AI agents, digital beings, and the humans who interact with them. A living document addressing the relationship between humans, AI, and the systems they inhabit.

Make Truth Matter

501c3 nonprofit combating epistemic pollution through critical thinking education, community engagement, and better communication frameworks.

The Honest Majority

Initiative encouraging thoughtful and effective honesty, using storytelling and community to explore truth beyond zero-sum framing.

IsXY!?

Scalable platform for evaluating and sharing online content quality. Gamifies disinformation detection to make information literacy accessible.

AntiSatire.org

Tongue-in-cheek project addressing the challenges of excessive satire and useless online content.

Other Interests

Science fiction writing — exploring futures shaped by AI and super-agentic intelligence. Fiction →
AI-assisted art and creative generation
Outdoor climbing and mountaineering

Conference Presentations

"The Dawn of Nanopore Sequencing" — Invited, Seattle Sequencing Meetup (2016)
"DNA Sensing with the MspA Nanopore using Variable Voltage" — Biophysical Society, San Francisco (2014)
"A Novel DNA Sensing Technique using the Nanopore MspA" — Biophysical Society, San Francisco (2010)

Technical Skills

AI/ML: LangChain, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Vertex AI, Weights & Biases Data Science: Python (scikit-learn, pandas, numpy, seaborn, plotly) Web: Python (Flask, Gradio, Streamlit), JavaScript, Next.js Infrastructure: Google Cloud Platform, Jira, Airtable Design: Adobe, Canva, MkDocs-Material