Michael Tognotti joins CombiMatrix of Mukilteo, Wash., as director of sales in North America for the company's CustomArray line of microarrays, the company said this week. CombiMatrix is the life sciences unit of Acacia Research. Tognotti's responsibilities include building and managing sales, technical support, and customer services for the product. Previously, Tognotti was in sales and marketing management positions at San Diego-based Illumina.