NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, a company that exploits gene variation for the pharmaceutical industry, named Joel Claiborne Stephens as director of population genomics. Stephens, who has headed the bioinformatics group at the US National Cancer Institute since 1990, will direct the application of gene haplotypes for more effective clinical trails and the enhancement of drugs in the market, Genaissance said.
Stephens, 45, is a leading investigator in the application of haplotypes to predict clinical points. At the cancer institute, Stephens was part of an AIDs-related program utilizing population genetic strategies to trace HIV resistance in selected patient groups. At Genaissance he will continue his previous work in bioinformatics and algorithm models for the analysis of gene variation.