Joshua LaBaer has left Harvard University, where he was director of its proteomics institute, to become the first director of the new Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, the institute said this week.
He also becomes the first Virginia G. Piper Chair of Personalized Medicine.
The 8,000-square-feet Piper Center will develop new diagnostic tools for the early detection of diseases including cancer and diabetes.
LaBaer created the Institute of Proteomics within Harvard Medical School where he developed new technologies to discover new disease targets, including the creation of a repository of protein expression-ready clones for genes in humans and other commonly studied organisms. More than 100,000 clones have been sent to laboratories worldwide, Biodesign said in a statement.
Proxeon announced this week two appointments to expand its commercial operations.
Fiona Ford was appointed vice president of global sales. She has more than 20 years of experience in life science sales including stints as senior director for client business management at Incyte and senior director for pharmaceutical business development for Ciphergen, now called Vermillion.
Also, Erik Verschuuren was named vice president of sales in Europe. Most recently he was at GE Healthcare.
Mark Schmeizl has joined Aushon BioSystems as vice president of North American sales, the company said this week.
Schmeizl has more than 15 years of sales and marketing experience, and held senior sales, marketing, and management positions at PerkinElmer, Cisbio, and Affymetrix.