PALO ALTO, Calif.--Michael Steinmetz, managing director of the biotechnology venture capital firm Venture Asset Management, Cambridge, Mass., was elected to the board of directors of the bioinformation technology company Caliper Technologies here. Steinmetz also serves as acting CEO of the new, Munich-based, functional genomics company Genome Pharmaceuticals, and was previously vice-president of preclinical R&D for Hoffmann-LaRoche.
Caliper's chief product is the LabChip, a proprietary microfluidic bioprocessor technology that integrates microfabrication, electronics, software, biology, and chemistry, according to the company. Among LabChips' application are genomics and ultrahigh-throughput experimentation. Steinmetz predicted that the product "will revolutionize the generation and management of biochemical information."
David Lam, Caliper's president and CEO, said the company "will benefit greatly" from Steinmetz's "knowledge and experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and his track record of building strategic alliances." Steinmetz noted that the board appointment "continues a relationship I began with Caliper last year at Hoffmann-La Roche." Among Steinmetz's other accomplishments at the pharmaceutical company, he directed research alliances with such genomics companies as Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Incyte Pharmaceuticals.