Pacific Biosciences: Catherine Ball, Kathleen Lynch, Michele Farmer

Pacific Biosciences has appointed Catherine Ball to the newly created position of senior VP of research; Kathleen Lynch as head of global government affairs; and Michele Farmer as chief accounting officer.

Ball was most recently chief scientific officer of Ancestry DNA where she built a team to create the genotyping platform and analytical approaches behind the AncestryDNA and AncestryHealth direct-to-consumer products and services. She holds a doctorate in molecular biology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Lynch will lead PacBio's government affairs and corporate communications. She joins the firm from Illumina, where she originated that company's political lobbying efforts and was VP of global government affairs and public policy. She has also held leadership roles at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Life Technologies, and Invitrogen. She holds a law degree from St. John's University School of Law.

Farmer also joins PacBio from Illumina, where she was senior director of accounting. She is a certified public accountant.