1. Early life

2. Career
    DNA Bioscience  Trimega  Mole Detect  DNAFit 

3. References

Another venture started by Lasarow is DNAFit, which sells a DNA testing kit developed for nutrition and fitness purposes.^[14][15] In 2018, DNAFit was acquired by Prenetics – a genetic testing and digital health company based in Hong Kong.^[16][17][18]

Early life

Lasarow was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and educated in the US, where he gained his grade 12 general equivalency diploma at 16.^[19] After briefly returning to South Africa, Lasarow then moved to the United Kingdom where he began his career which ultimately led to a string of multinational companies.^[20]

Career

From 1996 until 2001, Lasarow worked at Citigroup in the UK as a support manager, designing and implementing a helpdesk in India and implementing technology solutions globally.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} In 2002, he worked at Citigroup as a technology project manager, integrating software on a global basis.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

DNA Bioscience

At 26, Lasarow founded and was managing director of DNA Bioscience, a UK-based DNA testing company specialising in paternity testing. DNA Bioscience recruited former Labour MP David Blunkett, as a non-executive director, who allegedly bought £15,000 of shares two weeks before Britain's 2005 general election. After the election, Blunkett rejoined the government as Work and Pensions Secretary. Upon his return to parliament he was asked why he had not consulted the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments on his relationship with the firm.^[21] The controversy led to his resignation and as a result, DNA Bioscience failed to secure final listing support and went into liquidation. Blunkett was later found to have not broken the ministerial code. On 25 November 2005, after he had resigned Gus O'Donnell wrote to Blunkett confirming that there was no conflict of interest, no failure to declare either Blunkett's shareholding or brief business connection with the company.

In 2006 Lasarow authored and published a book entitled, "Who is Really Who?" – the UK's first guide to DNA paternity testing.^[22]

Trimega

The collapse of DNA Bioscience led to Lasarow founding, being chief executive officer and managing director of Trimega Laboratories in 2005, a forensic science company for testing hair for evidence of alcohol and drug abuse. The firm turned approximately £140,000 in its first year, and approximately £6 million in 2011.^[23]

The company which operated out of a 1900 square foot laboratory in Manchester also provided services for doctors wishing to test a patient's suitability for organ transplants, assisting governments and emergency services with identifying victims of disasters. The company developed the DrugAlyser, a roadside drug testing device used by police in South Africa and the UK.^[24]

Lasarow successfully exited the company to Ingemino Testing Solutions in Feb 2012 lead by Oakland Smith and Williamson.^[25]

Despite Trimega's initial success with the new owner, the company ran into difficulty in 2014 following a downturn in the paternity testing market.^[26]

Mole Detect

In 2012, Lasarow incorporated L-Health a company setup to acquire existing technology from MIT and New Consumer Solutions LLC. The technology was designed for educational purposes only and worked by scanning pictures of an individuals mole and generating a report on them using well known ABCDE criteria. Within one week post the acquisition of the technology and having all the warranties in place, the product was featured on the Dr. Oz show generating an excess of $50,000 in downloads. As a result, the product became subject to litigation with the Federal Trade Commission.^[27] It was only in 2015 that Lasarow settled on the basis that the cost of litigation cross-border was cost prohibitive .^[28] The final settlement was completed in 2015 ^[29]

DNAFit

In 2013 Lasarow created the company DNAFit, a technology company that maps user DNA to give them nutrition and fitness insights.^[20]

The technology works by gathering data from a selection of genetic variants which are linked to a body's response to exercise and nutrition. These variants are selected by the company's scientific advisory board as the genetic mutations with the strongest evidence base for use in fitness or nutrition.^[30]

The product provides reports to its users and generates training and nutrition plans based on those reports.^[31]

In 2017 the company was listed by Fast Company magazine as one of the world's most innovative companies in data science.^[32]

The company also assists elite athletes to improve performance gains naturally using genetic data. Notable clients include Olympic Champion Greg Rutherford ^[33] and South African Rugby star Bryan Habana^[34] and Jenny Meadows.^[35][36]

The company also assisted international rugby players Bryan Ruiz,^[37] Glen Johnson^[38] and Georgios Karagounis,^[39] prior to the 2015 World Cup.

DNAFit has also been used in a lottery-funded pilot project in Essex,^[40] to help obese people lose weight.

In recognition of the company's growth and innovative technology, DNAFit was awarded an Innovation Award at the 2015 Lloyds UK National Business Awards.^[41]

The company has an active research arm, the Exercise & Nutritional Genomics Research Centre,^[42] and continues to publish research papers in academic journals. The company recently co-published the first ever genetic exercise intervention study titled; A genetic based algorithm for personalised resistance training.^[43] The study showed that using the company's genetic algorithm for training intensity provided improved training results compared to a non-genetically matched resistance training program. These findings were used to create the company's online training platform, Elevate.^[44]

Lasarow has called for improved self-regulation in the consumer genomics industry, publishing an article on the challenges of direct consumer confidence in genetic in 2016 ^[45]

DNAFit was the first consumer genetics company in the fitness or nutrition sectors to publish a public code of practice^[46] in 2015 and continues to call for all companies in the space to adhere to strict self-regulation in order to further the industry.^[47]

In April 2018, DNAFit was acquired by Hong Kong-based genetics company Prenetics for US$10 million.^[48]

Prenetics is a genetic testing/digital health company with headquarters in Hong Kong and London. The company provides its customers with genetic health information. In October 2017, they raised more than $40million in Series B funding, led by Beyond Ventures and the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund.^[49][50]

In 2018 Lasarow was appointed CEO of Prenetics International and a member of the Prenetics board.^[51] DNAFit continues to operate, with Lasarow as CEO.

In 2018, DNAFit was awarded two Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2018, the Innovation and International Trade awards.^[52]

In May 2018, prior to the Prenetics deal, the company announced the appointment of new shareholder and former England footballer Rio Ferdinand as head advisor of its Health, Wellness and Sports Advisory Board.^[53]

References

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