Luna Genetics: Arthur Beaudet

InterVenn Biosciences, a company specializing in glycoproteomics for precision medicine applications, has appointed James Allison and Padmanee Sharma to its advisory board.

Allison is chair of the Department of Immunology, chair for cancer research, director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Research, and executive director of the immunotherapy program at MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 2018 Allison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery of a new way to treat cancer by leveraging the body's immune system to attack the tumor.

Sharma is professor in the Departments of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology and chair in cell biology in the Cancer Medicine Division at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her translational research focuses on learning how to apply immune-based therapeutic strategies to manipulate components of the human immune system to lead to tumor regression.

Benjamin Jackson has been appointed as general counsel of Sera Prognostics. He joins the Salt Lake City-based pregnancy health company from Myriad Genetics, where he held the same position.

The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics has added five new members to its board of directors, including its new president-elect. They will serve six-year terms starting this month.

Susan Klugman is ACMG's president-elect. She is the director of the division of reproductive and medical genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center. Klugman holds an a bachelor of science in biometry and statistics from Cornell University and an MD from New York University School of Medicine. She is board certified in clinical genetics and in obstetrics and gynecology.

Shweta Dhar is an associate professor in the department of molecular and human genetics and the department of internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. She is a graduate of Nathiba Hargovandas Lakhmichand Municipal Medical College in India and holds an MS in biotechnology from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. She is board certified in clinical genetics and internal medicine.

Hutton Kearney is vice chair of hereditary genomics in the Mayo Clinic Division of Laboratory Genetics and Genomics and an assistant professor of laboratory medicine and pathology. She holds a BS in secondary education from Auburn University and a PhD in genetics and molecular biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is board certified in clinical cytogenetics and clinical molecular genetics.

David Stevenson is a professor of pediatrics in the division of medical genetics at Stanford University. He holds a BA in biology from Utah State University and an MD from the University of Utah.

Jerry Vockley is chief of the division of medical genetics and director of the Center for Rare Disease Therapy at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. He holds an undergraduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University as well as an MD and a PhD in genetics from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is board certified in clinical genetics and in clinical biochemical/molecular genetics.

Michael Tonroe has been appointed as CFO of Australian molecular diagnostics company Genetic Technologies, effective June 28. Previously, he was CFO and company secretary at Opthea, and before that, CFO and company secretary at the Australian Synchrotron. Tonroe holds a graduate degree in business studies from Buckingham University in the UK.

Single-cell analysis firm Mission Bio has appointed Yan Zhang as CEO.

Zhang joins Mission Bio after 10 years at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where she led that firm's commercial organization in China for genetic sciences and clinical next-generation sequencing and was general manager for its reproductive health and microarray businesses. Prior to Thermo, Zhang held product management and commercialization roles at Affymetrix, NuGen Technologies, and Molecular Devices. She holds a PhD in biochemistry from the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Former CEO Charlie Silver, a Mission Bio cofounder, will move into an advisory role.

NRGene has hired Keith Blanks as chief commercial officer and Richard Calk as chief strategy officer. Blanks previously was senior VP of sales and marketing at Calyxt, where he led the launch of one of the world's first gene-edited food products. Calk joins NRGene after serving as president and COO of Neogen. NRGene said that the two will help the Israeli company grow in North America.