Benitec recently appointed Chandu Ammini as the company’s manager of business development.
Before joining Benitec, Ammini was a biotech consultant at Bethesda Bioscience Partners. Prior to that, he worked as a business development associate for MacroGenics.
He holds a PhD in molecular genetics from the University of Florida and an MBA in finance from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.
Galapagos Genomics said this week that Graham Dixon has been named as the company’s CSO.
Dixon will be responsible for directing Galapagos’ target-validation and drug-discovery research as it moves forward towards becoming a small-molecule drug-discovery shop, the company said.
Prior to joining Galapagos, Dixon was CSO of Entomed and F2G. Before this, he spent eight years at AstraZeneca, holding various positions in research and development, Galapagos said. He holds a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Swansea, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Swansea and King’s College.
Arden Bement , Jr., has been appointed by President Bush as the 12th director of the National Science Foundation. Bement has served as acting director of the agency since Feb. 22.
The Senate confirmed Bement on Nov. 20. He has served as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology since 2001, but resigned that post concurrent with his appointment as NSF director.
Bement’s term as NSF director is for 6 years.