Biography:Todd Huffman

From HandWiki
Short description: American inventor and photographer
Todd Huffman
War Rugs from Afghanistan.jpg
NationalityAmerican
OccupationComputer Scientist, inventor, photographer

Todd Huffman is an American technology entrepreneur and prolific photographer.[1][2][3][4][5] He was a co-founder of the biomedical imaging company, 3Scan, co-founder of the un-conference BIL Conference, and a member of the disaster aid group Synergy Strike Force.

He obtained a B.S. in neuroscience in 2003. He obtained a M.S. in bioinformatics at Arizona State University in 2006.[6]

Career

In 2011, Huffman co-founded 3Scan, a firm that develops new techniques for biomedical imaging.[2] American City Business Journals called 3Scan's main technology, the Knife-edge scanning microscope, a "robotic microscope."[3] The microscope rapidly sections and scans samples, building 3d models of microscopic structures.[4] Singularity Hub magazine quoted Huffman's description of their goal: “We’re trying to move from a world where humans are hunting and pecking through tissue looking for answers to a world where we generate large and reproducible data sets where we can use analytics to drive insights and real cures.”[citation needed]

In January 2015, Forbes magazine interviewed Huffman, asking him to explain the approach to technology his firm was taking.[2]

In July 2016, Biz Journals reported that venture capital firms had invested an additional $11 million in 3Scan, reporting the total as $21 million.[3]

Sharon Weinberger, author of a book about DARPA entitled The Imagineers of War, described Huffman influencing DARPA decision-makers, following a chance meeting where he described how he and other volunteers had used innovative modeling techniques to aid civilians in disaster zones and warzones.[7] Huffman was a regular visitor to Jalalabad, in Afghanistan, where he worked with other technology workers affiliated with an informal group known as the Synergy Strike Force, using technology to help improve the quality of life for Afghan civilians and training them in the use of peaceful technologies such as computers and wireless internet.[8]

Huffman is a cofounder[9] of the BIL Conference, an unconference organized and observed by the participants as an unaffiliated counterpart to TED’s structured, ‘invite-only’ paid conference.

He is signed up for cryopreservation with the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, since 2002.[6]

References

  1. "Todd Huffman". THNK School of Creative Leadership. 2017. http://www.thnk.org/people-of-thnk/person/todd-huffman/. Retrieved 2017-03-18. "In his spare time he is busy with cryonics – the process of freezing a person’s brain posthumously – and an intentional community he helped build in the Bay Area." 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Josh Wolfe (2015-01-28). "Digital Imaging On The Cutting Edge Of Tissue Analysis". Forbes magazine. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwolfe/2015/01/28/digital-imaging-on-the-cutting-edge-of-tissue-analysis/#62c0bd5d65ad. Retrieved 2017-03-18. "Historically, tissues have been examined by a pathologist using a microscope, and I believe to move biology and medicine forward we need to innovate automation and quantification techniques for high-throughput analysis at these scales." 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Gina Hall (2016-07-11). "Biotech startup 3Scan raises $14M to expand the abilities of its robotic microscope". Biz Journals. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2016/07/biotech-startup-3scan-raises-14m-to-expand-the.html. Retrieved 2017-03-18. "CEO Todd Huffman co-founded the San Francisco-based startup in 2011 to build a robotic microscope and computer vision system that automates tissue analysis for scientists involved in drug discovery." 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Alison E. Berman (2016-10-11). "Robotic Tissue-Slicing Microscopes and DIY Crowd Science to Accelerate Research". Singularity Hub. https://singularityhub.com/2016/10/11/robotic-tissue-slicing-microscopes-and-diy-crowd-science-to-accelerate-research/. Retrieved 2017-03-18. "Todd Huffman is the founder and CEO of 3Scan, a company that is reinventing the workflow and practice of conventional pathology, a field of medicine focused on studying disease." 
  5. "Todd Huffman: Founder & CEO, 3Scan". Singularity U. https://exponential.singularityu.org/medicine/faculty2016/todd-huffman/. Retrieved 2017-03-18. "Todd Huffman worked with the late Bruce McCormick, who pioneered the KESM technology." 
  6. 6.0 6.1 Chana de Wolf (2012). "Member Profile: Todd Huffman". Cryonics. https://www.cryonicsarchive.org/docs/cryonics-magazine-2012-04.pdf#page=18. 
  7. Sharon Weinberger (2017). The Imagineers of War: The Untold History of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 356. ISBN 9780385351799. https://books.google.com/books?id=mJssDgAAQBAJ&q=%22Todd+Huffman%22+&pg=PA356. Retrieved 2017-03-18. 
  8. Spencer Ackerman (May 2012). "Cash, and Time, Runs Out for Afghanistan's Wi-Fi City". Wired magazine. https://www.wired.com/2012/05/jlink/. Retrieved 2017-03-18. "'At the Fab Lab, some of the [Afghan] students came up with the idea of using point-to-point antennas and off-the-shelf routers to create a mesh network, to share internet around Jalalabad,' explains one of those expats, Todd Huffman, a 32-year-old San Franciscan." 
  9. Christina Gagnier (25 May 2011). "A BIL and TED Excellent Adventure". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-gagnier/a-bil-and-ted-excellent-a_b_462987.html.