Carolyn Conant

Enigma
DISC Type : cdi

Sr Director, R&D at Illumina

Encinitas, California, United States

Overview

Carolyn is a passionate R&D leader at Illumina with 19 years of post-academic experience in advanced research and product development. With postdoctoral fellowships at UC Berkeley and UCSF, she specializes in NGS, microfluidics, and single-cell analysis, and is motivated by executing projects with meaningful impact.

She is emphatically interested in exploring new technologies, particularly at the intersection of molecular biology with hardware and software systems. She is an active participant in the scientific community, frequently attending and presenting at major industry conferences like ASHG and ABRF to share her teams latest work.

She holds a patent for devices, systems, and methods related to magnetic separation.

Personality Overview

Fast Follower

Challenger

Friendly Yet Blunt

They can sound friendly and charming but can quickly change gears to become inquisitive and probing  They are generally strong communicators and are not easy to convince. They are likely to ask many questions and look heavily for supporting proof as well as information.

Topics They Care About

Scaling Single-Cell Studies
She recently presented her team's work on innovations for scaling massive single-cell studies at the 2025 American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) conference.
New Diagnostic Technologies
Her profile explicitly states she is "emphatically interested in new technologies, new assays, and new diagnostics, " highlighting a core professional passion.
Microfluidic Devices
She co-authored a book chapter on microfluidic devices for live cell analysis and holds a related patent, demonstrating deep expertise in this area.

Media Appearances

Reaching new heights in data quality and throughput on a benchtop .... Featured in Illumina News Center

See Now

Work History

11-2025
Sr Director, R&D at Illumina
4-2022 - 11-2025
R&D Director at Illumina
7-2020 - 4-2022
Associate Director at Illumina
2018 - 6-2020
Senior Staff Scientist at Illumina
6-2015 - 2018
Staff Scientist at Illumina

Education

Postdoctoral Fellow from University of California, Berkeley
Postdoctoral Fellow from University of California, San Francisco

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 19 Location : Encinitas, California, United States Job Level : Senior Designation : Sr Director, R&D at Illumina
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Insights For Selling To Carolyn

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Be prepared for a mix of questions and inquisitiveness, answer them in the tone in which they have been asked
  • Help them realize that any personal risk in making this decision is far less compared to what the results could mean for them
  • Use phrases like ‘clear evidence’, ‘data-based results’ etc.

DONT's

  • Don’t try to rush them into a decision, provide all necessary information first
  • Don’t be too objective but make sure to pad your storytelling with data points
  • Don’t rely excessively on your relationship with them to win the deal even if you come to form one

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Carolyn is

  • Proven value, strong objective evidence are important for them, rapport can impact decisions a little.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Carolyn

  • They are practical and friendly, but can give a clear response with a little prodding

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Carolyn move?

  • They like to be detailed, so unless they develop strong conviction, they can take their time to arrive at decisions
  • Can Carolyn take some risk or not?

  • They evaluate their decisions systematically and do not take risks that often, unless you can get them to develop strong conviction

You And Carolyn

Personality Compatibility


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