ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces academic scientists to some of the factors that businesspeople consider when deciding on making an investment in a company, a technology, or a product. Academic scientists that are considering commercializing their research should find this information useful. Microbiology-based companies expanded from the healthcare industry, into industries ranging from bioremediation to agriculture to the energy industry. The opportunities continue to grow as the need for fast, accurate diagnostic information will only become more important in the era of emerging diseases and new pandemic outbreaks. Genetic sequencing has become increasingly effective for research applications, but the development of useful bioinformatics tools has allowed this technology to penetrate deeper into clinical diagnostics microbiology. Bioinformatics will ultimately help clinicians translate the wealth of data that is gained from sequencing applications into targeted useful information that can affect therapeutic decision making.
