M. Allen Northrup

Principal, Northrup Consulting Group

M.S. Biology (1981)

Inventor on 51 issued patents. R&D Magazine Award recipient and co-inventor of Cepheid Smartcycler and GenXpert Instruments. He invented the U.S. Postal Service anthrax detection system and has raised over $80 million in research and development funding.
For seven years he served as a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in addition to three years as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and two years as a consulting professor at Stanford University.
A member of the National Academy of Engineering, he’s also a fellow in the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineers, and a fellow in the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Co-founded two companies: Cepheid and Microfluidic Systems (sold to PositiveID Corp.). Microfluidic Systems received the Inc. Magazine award for one of fastest growing small companies of 2010-2011.
Currently, he is principal at Northrup Consulting Group which advises small and large companies in biodetection, diagnostics, business, and intellectual property. He is a member of the Science Advisory Board of Fluigent in Paris. He’s also a founding advisory board member of the Chemical and Biological Miniaturization Society, and a mentor and advisor with the Thiel Foundation.

Notable CSU Alumni in science & technology