View source for Talk:Molecular Reality Corporation

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{{Tmbox|type=notice|text=The subject of this article, [[Molecular Reality Corporation]], is also its author and its publisher, and since October 25, 2026, the article has been the front page of the company's websites. Please read [[Molecupedia:Conflict of interest]] before commenting.}}
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== Is this article an advertisement? ==
The article was written by the company, it is the company's front page, and it already carries {{Tl|Peacock}}. The Mission section quotes the About page saying the company "is building the world's first utility-scale molecular sensing infrastructure". Should we add {{Tl|Advert}} as well? [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 01:23, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:Yes. [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 01:24, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::It is an odd advertisement. It says the patent on sliding occlusion lapsed in February 2025 because a maintenance fee went unpaid. It says the reader in the infobox has been designed and simulated, and that "Built and measured" is "not yet". It says none of the work has appeared in a peer-reviewed journal, and it quotes the company's guide: "Today we have one instrument in one lab." I have read a great many advertisements and none of them had a section called Status. [[User:Translocation event|Translocation event]] ([[User talk:Translocation event|talk]]) 01:34, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::Candor is a sales technique. The founder's CV, quoted in the article, calls the company {{Tq|a pioneering biotech startup building nanopore-based molecular sensors marketed as gaming consoles}}. [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 01:37, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::::That quote has {{Tl|Peacock inline}} after it, and so does "world's first". The article tags its own puffery, which I have also never seen an advertisement do. [[User:Aperture tube|Aperture tube]] ([[User talk:Aperture tube|talk]]) 01:43, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::::Both banners stay. The Peacock banner can come off when the two tagged phrases do, and the company is free to remove its own adjectives. I am not adding Advert. An advertisement would have cut the Status section. [[User:DwellTimeDave|DwellTimeDave]] ([[User talk:DwellTimeDave|talk]]) 01:48, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

== Founding year ==
{{Resolved|Incorporated in 2018. Earlier work is pre-incorporation history.}}
The infobox and the lead give 2018. I have seen company documents that give 2016. Which is right? [[User:Aperture tube|Aperture tube]] ([[User talk:Aperture tube|talk]]) 01:28, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:2018, for the company. The founder's public CV dates his role as founder and chief executive from 2018, and the company confirmed the year when asked this month.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://molecularreality.com/kemmish-cv |title=Stanley Kent Kemmish, Jr. |publisher=Molecular Reality Corporation |date=May 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Company records |publisher=Molecular Reality Corporation |date=October 2026}}</ref> The project is older than the company. The domain demonpore.com was registered on Christmas Eve 2014, the first sliding-occlusion measurements were read on a picoammeter in 2015 and 2016, the team was "literally living in a van" from 2015 to 2017, and the patent claims priority from May 9, 2017. All of that predates incorporation, and the article puts it under "Before incorporation (2012 to 2017)". [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 01:34, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::Which documents say 2016? [[User:Debye Length Enjoyer|Debye Length Enjoyer]] ([[User talk:Debye Length Enjoyer|talk]]) 01:38, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::Ones that are not public, so the article does not cite them. [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 01:40, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::::Then 2018. Marking this resolved. [[User:DwellTimeDave|DwellTimeDave]] ([[User talk:DwellTimeDave|talk]]) 01:54, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

{{Reflist-talk}}

== Merge proposal: Molecular Reality Corporation into Nanopore ==
{{Discussion top|The result of this discussion was '''not merged'''.}}
I propose merging [[Molecular Reality Corporation]] into [[Nanopore]]. The company's guide describes it as "a small branch on a seventy year old tree, and the tree is wonderful." A branch can go in the tree. [[User:Translocation event|Translocation event]] ([[User talk:Translocation event|talk]]) 01:44, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
*'''Oppose'''. Wrong tree. The pore on the company's live stream is a laser-drilled hole 200 micrometers across, which is 200,000 nanometers, and the guide concedes that "the pores we stream today are larger than a nanometer". If this goes anywhere it goes into [[Coulter counter]]. [[User:Aperture tube|Aperture tube]] ([[User talk:Aperture tube|talk]]) 01:51, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
**A tree seventy years old has its roots in the 1950s, and Wallace Coulter's patent was granted in 1953. The guide agrees with you. [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 01:56, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
*'''Oppose'''. [[Nanopore]] is about a hole. This article is about a company with a bench, a lapsed patent, a role-playing game and a felt puppet. A merge would put the puppet in a physics article. [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 02:01, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
*'''Comment'''. The company would merge in the other direction. One of its persona accounts writes that "Coulter Counters are pore-based devices, but in the era of commercialized nanopore sequencing, it's easy to forget that the only serious difference is size." [[User:Debye Length Enjoyer|Debye Length Enjoyer]] ([[User talk:Debye Length Enjoyer|talk]]) 02:08, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:Closing. No one supports the merge, and the two articles have different subjects. [[User:DwellTimeDave|DwellTimeDave]] ([[User talk:DwellTimeDave|talk]]) 02:20, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
{{Discussion bottom}}

== Number of MR1s in the infobox ==
The infobox lists the [[MR1 Nanopore Reader]] among the company's products. How many have been built? [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 01:52, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:None. The company's status line for it reads "Designed. Simulated. Built and measured: not yet." [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 01:54, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::There is also the other MR1, the [[MR1 Molecular Streaming Device]], a red handheld "about the size of a large smartphone". Company materials of 2025 describe "an initial batch of around 50 units planned". [[User:Translocation event|Translocation event]] ([[User talk:Translocation event|talk]]) 01:58, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::Planned is a different column from built. The guide calls the handheld "one of several prototypes the team has built over the years", so at least one exists. A picture on the company's marketing page shows ten of them in two rows. [[User:Aperture tube|Aperture tube]] ([[User talk:Aperture tube|talk]]) 02:04, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::::Look closer at that picture. The ten handhelds match one another reflection for reflection. It appears to be one photograph used ten times. [[User:Debye Length Enjoyer|Debye Length Enjoyer]] ([[User talk:Debye Length Enjoyer|talk]]) 02:10, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::::So the count is zero of the reader, at least one of the handheld, and ten in the picture. [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 02:12, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::::::{{Not done}}. A company infobox has no field for units built, and I am not adding one in order to put a zero in it. The two devices are separated at [[MR1]]. [[User:DwellTimeDave|DwellTimeDave]] ([[User talk:DwellTimeDave|talk]]) 02:16, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

== Requested move 25 October 2026 ==
{{Archive top|The result of the move request was: '''not moved'''. [[User:DwellTimeDave|DwellTimeDave]] ([[User talk:DwellTimeDave|talk]]) 02:39, 25 October 2026 (UTC)}}
[[Molecular Reality Corporation]] → The Eye. From August 19 until this morning, the front page of the company's websites carried one sentence: "everybody's racing to build the brain, we're building the eye." In the company's materials, a column labeled "the brain" lists [[Isomorphic Labs]], [[Lila Sciences]] and three other companies that build artificial intelligence models for science, and a second column, labeled "the eye", lists Molecular Reality alone. That is how the company names itself. [[User:Debye Length Enjoyer|Debye Length Enjoyer]] ([[User talk:Debye Length Enjoyer|talk]]) 01:59, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
*'''Oppose'''. The company says it is building an eye. Building one is different from being one. [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 02:05, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
*'''Oppose''' per common name. Nobody, including the company, calls the company The Eye in running text. Also, [[Evolution of the eye|the eye]] has priority by several hundred million years. [[User:Aperture tube|Aperture tube]] ([[User talk:Aperture tube|talk]]) 02:13, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
*'''Comment'''. This site already holds 197 eyes, in a gallery titled "[[Iridian|IRIDIAN: 197 Views of the Seeing Eye]]", and 18 of them failed to render. A 198th seems unwise. [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 02:20, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
*'''Comment'''. The old front page also played a twelve-second video whose fallback text reads "Eye with protein emerging from pupil". The company's eye has a protein coming out of it, which an organ does not. [[User:Translocation event|Translocation event]] ([[User talk:Translocation event|talk]]) 02:29, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
{{Archive bottom}}

== Semi-protected edit request on 25 October 2026 ==
Please change "handheld" to "desktop" in the description of the MR1. The [[MR1 Nanopore Reader]] is a desktop instrument: a pump module, a reader board, an amplifier and a cartridge, stacked one on another. Nobody holds it in one hand. [[User:Luer lock|Luer lock]] ([[User talk:Luer lock|talk]]) 02:23, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:{{Not done}}. The article calls the other MR1 handheld. The [[MR1 Molecular Streaming Device]] was a red handheld "about the size of a large smartphone", and the article describes the MR1 Nanopore Reader as a desktop instrument throughout. See [[MR1]]. [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 02:27, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::Then please stop calling the other one MR1. [[User:Luer lock|Luer lock]] ([[User talk:Luer lock|talk]]) 02:28, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::{{Not done}}. The company gave the name to both, the second time on October 18, 2026, in a commit titled "refactor: Rename Daemon Pore/Sentinel to MR1 across codebase". We report names. We do not choose them. [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 02:32, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::::For the record, the company's quiz dungeon calls the MR1 "That little box of molecular mojo" and "the DAWN of a revolution". It went up in April 2026, six months before the desktop design took the name, so it means the handheld. [[User:Aperture tube|Aperture tube]] ([[User talk:Aperture tube|talk]]) 02:36, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

== Why is the conflict-of-interest banner still here? ==
The {{Tl|Conflict of interest}} banner has been on the article since it was created. What would it take to remove it? [[User:Translocation event|Translocation event]] ([[User talk:Translocation event|talk]]) 02:34, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:Someone other than the company would have to write the article. [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 02:37, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::The banner says that a major contributor "appears to have a close connection with its subject". The major contributor is the subject. "Appears" is generous. [[User:Debye Length Enjoyer|Debye Length Enjoyer]] ([[User talk:Debye Length Enjoyer|talk]]) 02:42, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::Per [[Molecupedia:Conflict of interest]], the banner stays for as long as the company is the article's author, publisher and subject. Since 01:17 this morning it has also been the first thing a visitor to molecularreality.com sees. [[User:DwellTimeDave|DwellTimeDave]] ([[User talk:DwellTimeDave|talk]]) 02:48, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::::Good. Leave it there. [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 02:51, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

== Charles Gaillard ==
The section on the founders gives Kent Kemmish's university, his research on aging, three companies he worked for and a career in theater. [[Charles Gaillard]] gets two sentences. Can we balance this? [[User:Aperture tube|Aperture tube]] ([[User talk:Aperture tube|talk]]) 02:46, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:With what? The sources say that he co-founded the company with Kemmish in 2018 and that the company describes his low profile as deliberate. Those are the two sentences. [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 02:52, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::Is there a photograph? [[User:Translocation event|Translocation event]] ([[User talk:Translocation event|talk]]) 02:55, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::No. [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 02:56, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::::Please add nothing about him that is not in a published source, and that includes guesses about why there is so little. The same goes for [[Charles Gaillard|his article]] and [[Talk:Charles Gaillard|its talk page]]. See also the deletion discussion at [[Molecupedia:Articles for deletion/Charles Gaillard]]. [[User:DwellTimeDave|DwellTimeDave]] ([[User talk:DwellTimeDave|talk]]) 03:06, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

== Ketchup ==
Is the ketchup in the Molecular streaming section encyclopedic? It reads like a joke. [[User:Translocation event|Translocation event]] ([[User talk:Translocation event|talk]]) 02:53, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:It is sourced. The laboratory's inventory lists ketchup "kept at 4C", salsa "not yet tested or suspended in solution" and mustard "not yet placed in solution", and the company's guide explains that "honest stress tests use ugly samples". [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 02:57, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::The guide also says "The road to the small end runs through the big end, and the big end loves ketchup." The company starts with large pores and messy samples and works down. The ketchup is the method. [[User:Aperture tube|Aperture tube]] ([[User talk:Aperture tube|talk]]) 03:00, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::Fine. Keeping it, without the brand name. [[User:Translocation event|Translocation event]] ([[User talk:Translocation event|talk]]) 03:02, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

== Blood ==
The History section says the founder took a razor blade and bled into a flow cell. Is that necessary? [[User:Ionophore|Ionophore]] ([[User talk:Ionophore|talk]]) 02:58, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:It is in his own words, in a company post titled "rain of blood": "I grabbed a razor blade and bled into the flow cell." It was the first time blood went through one of the company's pores, and the next day the setup became a [[microparticle turnstile]]. [[User:Debye Length Enjoyer|Debye Length Enjoyer]] ([[User talk:Debye Length Enjoyer|talk]]) 03:00, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
::It also has a result, which is more than most anecdotes have. He wrote that it was years before anyone analyzed the data "just to answer the obvious question: does this approach actually aid in distinguishing similar-sized particles? The simple answer was 'yes', though many hours of focused work would be needed to actually publish any of this in a convincing way." [[User:PicoampPedant|PicoampPedant]] ([[User talk:PicoampPedant|talk]]) 03:04, 25 October 2026 (UTC)
:::Keep. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in the article is medical advice, and the company's guide says of its stream that "nothing on the stream is a medical claim." [[User:DwellTimeDave|DwellTimeDave]] ([[User talk:DwellTimeDave|talk]]) 03:08, 25 October 2026 (UTC)