Gordon Sanghera read chemistry at Cardiff and stayed for a PhD in bioelectronics. Fifteen years at MediSense followed, an Oxford University spin-out manufacturing glucose monitoring systems. In 2005 he co-founded his own Oxford spin-out with chemical biologist Hagan Bayley and Spike Willcocks. It was built on an idea that sounded implausible: thread a strand of DNA through a protein pore, measure the disturbance in an electrical current and read the genetic code directly.

It worked, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies produced something no rival offered, real-time long reads from a portable device. The company has been commercially distributing sequencers since 2015, starting with the handheld MinION. MinION sequencers have since been used in more than 100 countries and even on the International Space Station. The company floated in London in 2021 in one of the market's largest tech listings and joined the FTSE 250 in 2024.

The science has never been the problem; profitability has. Revenue reached £223.9m in 2025, up 24.2% at constant currency, but the company still posted a net loss of about £145m. Management has promised to reach cash-flow breakeven in 2028.

Sanghera handed the CEO role to Francis Van Parys in March 2026. Van Parys spent more than 20 years leading life science businesses, a hint that the next chapter is about moving from research labs into regulated markets. Sanghera, who was made a CBE in 2023 for his contribution to technology and innovation, remains an employee in an advisory capacity through to early 2027, as the business figures out how to turn an undoubted scientific success into an ongoing financial one.