Andrea Armani, an assistant professor at USC, has developed the world's first optical sensor that can spot an unlabelled molecule. And it works in a liquid. For the untrained, that means that Armani is on track to radically improve the way diagnostic devices work. Put one in a patient's blood and it can act as a sentinel, engineered to spot infectious agents at an early stage.

Armani is one of 35 innovators recognized for their groundbreaking work by MIT's Technology Review. Not all of them are focused on the biopharma field. But the slate includes a remarkable advance in high-tech diagnostic chips-from Michelle Khine at the University of California--and Jorge Conde, the 32-year-old founder of Knome, the world's first sequencing company for consumers.

Conde is credited with commercializing genomic sequencing for the modest sum of $100,000 a pop. That's a tiny fraction of what it once cost--and many times what it will cost in a matter of months. This is one field where innovation is driving down retail costs at a dramatic pace. And Conde says Knome is preparing for a world where the average consumer will be able to afford to have his genome sequenced.

- read the special report from Technology Review