Lubert Stryer
Lubert Stryer has died at age 86. He was an emeritus professor of cell biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. His work in spatially addressable parallel chemical synthesis of peptides and oligonucleotides paved the way for DNA microarrays. He was a cofounder of Affymax, which later spun off DNA chip company Affymetrix. He was also the author of a widely used undergraduate biochemistry textbook. Stryer received a BS from the University of Chicago and an MD from Harvard Medical School. He joined the faculty of Stanford University as an assistant professor in the department of biochemistry in 1963, became a professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University in 1969, and returned to Stanford as head of the department of structural biology in 1976.
Illumina: Joydeep Goswami, Ankur Dhingra, Jakob Wedel
Illumina has announced that CFO and Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer Joydeep Goswami has decided to leave Illumina. He will remain at the firm in an advisory role through June 30.
Ankur Dhingra, Goswami's replacement as CFO effective April 15, will lead financial planning and analysis, accounting, investor relations, internal audit, tax, and treasury functions at Illumina. Dhingra comes to Illumina from Summit Therapeutics, where he was CFO. Prior to that, he was CFO of CareDx and spent more than 18 years at Agilent, rising to VP of investor relations. He is a chartered accountant.
Jakob Wedel will take over as Illumina's chief strategy and corporate development officer. He joined Illumina in November 2023 as CEO chief of staff. In his new role, he will be responsible for driving strategic planning, partnerships, and acquisitions. He has also been a consultant at EY, McKinsey & Company, and Bain & Company.
Bio-Rad Laboratories: Andrew Last
Andrew Last, executive VP and chief operating officer at Bio-Rad Laboratories, will retire from the company by early September. He will remain part of Bio-Rad's executive leadership team while the company conducts a search for his successor.
Novacyt: Lyn Rees, James MacCarthy, Joanne Mason, Andrew Heath
Lyn Rees has been appointed as CEO of molecular diagnostics firm Novacyt, effective May 1, replacing James McCarthy, who has been acting CEO. McCarthy will remain with the company for an unspecified period of time to ensure a smooth transition, Novacyt said.
Rees was most recently CEO of Yourgene Health, which was acquired by Novacyt last year. Before that, he was Group CEO at British Biocell International.
In addition, Novacyt's CSO Joanne Mason will join the company's board as an executive director, also effective May 1, pending shareholder approval, while Andrew Health will retire as non-executive director. Mason was previously CSO of Yourgene Health. Before that, she held scientific roles at Cambridge Epigenetix, Genomics England, and the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. She holds a PhD in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Cambridge.
Scale Biosciences: Kim Ferguson
Single-cell sequencing technology firm Scale Biosciences has appointed Kim Ferguson as VP of global sales and support. Prior to joining ScaleBio, Ferguson was VP of global sales operations at DNA Script. Previously, she held a variety of sales and scientific roles at Illumina, Eppendorf, VWR International, Orthologic, and Natick Soldier Center. Ferguson received a BS in biology and biotechnology and MS in biology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
One Biosciences: Scott Braunstein, Vincent Miller
One Biosciences, a company using single-cell analysis and AI for precision medicine discovery, has appointed Scott Braunstein and Vincent Miller to its board of directors.
Braunstein has served as operating partner of Aisling Capital since 2015. He has also been CEO of Marinus Pharmaceuticals since 2019 and chairman of the board since November 2022. Previously, he was chief operating officer and chief strategy officer at Pacira Pharmaceuticals.
Miller is considered a world expert in lung cancer and clinical trial design and interpretation. He previously served as physician-in-chief for EQRx. Prior to that he was chief medical officer at Foundation Medicine. Before joining Foundation, Miller spent more than 20 years in cancer patient care and research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Nodexus: Jonni Moore, Peter Lopez, John Ferbas
Nodexus, a company specializing in single-cell isolation and analysis technologies, has appointed Jonni Moore, Peter Lopez, and John Ferbas to its scientific advisory board.
Moore will serve as the board chairperson and is currently a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Perelman School of Medicine. She is also former president of the International Society of Cytometry.
Lopez is VP of technical operations and innovations and New York site head for Comprehensive Cell Solutions, a business unit of the New York Blood Center. He also is an associate professor in the Department of Pathology at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine.
Ferbas is director of cytometry sciences at Amgen, where he has worked for more than 25 years. Prior to Amgen, Ferbas was an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine.
HealthTrackRx: Steven Goldberg
Steven Goldberg has been appointed as chief medical officer of HealthTrackRx, an infectious disease molecular diagnostic testing laboratory headquartered in Denton, Texas. He previously served as chief health officer and VP of medical affairs at Quest Diagnostics. Prior to that, he held leading roles at major health plans, including chief medical officer at WellCare Health Plans, senior medical director at Coventry Health Care, and chief of medical affairs at Express Scripts. Goldberg holds a BA from Georgetown University, an MD from Thomas Jefferson University, and an MBA from Binghamton University.
Co-Diagnostics: Richard Abbott, David Nielsen, Christopher Thurston, Seth Egan
Co-Diagnostics has appointed Richard Abbott as president, David Nielsen as chief operations officer, Christopher Thurston as chief technology officer, and Seth Egan as chief commercialization officer.
Abbott previously served as president of Advanced Conceptions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Co-Dx, and as VP of engineering at BioFire Diagnostics. Nielsen was previously the COO of Idaho Molecular, a company also acquired by Co-Dx, and served in R&D leadership roles at BioFire and BioFire Defense. Thurston has experience as a software designer and architect for BioFire Defense and BioMérieux. Egan has been with Co-Dx since it was founded, leading its sales and marketing efforts and overseeing the firm's joint venture in India.
For additional recent items on executive appointments, promotions, and departures in the omics and molecular diagnostics space, please see the People in the News page on our website.