Noubar Afeyan and Peter Barrett resigned from Helicos' board of directors. According to documents filed with the US Securities Exchange Commission, neither decision to resign was the result of any disagreement with the company.
Afeyan was a cofounder of Helicos. He is also the founder and CEO of Flagship Ventures, a Helicos investor.
Afeyan is also a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management and was a cofounder of Celera Genomics. He holds a PhD in biochemical engineering from MIT and a BS from McGill University.
Barrett is a partner in the life sciences group at Atlas Ventures, another Helicos investor. He is also and vice chairman of the advisory council of the Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis at Northeastern University and adjunct professor of the Barnett Institute, as well as president of the Autism Consortium.
Previously, he was cofounder, executive vice president, and chief business officer of Celera Genomics and held senior management positions at Perkin Elmer.
He holds a PhD in analytical chemistry from Northeastern University and a BS from Lowell Technological Institute.
Daniel O'Day has been appointed head of Roche Diagnostics. He will succeed Pascal Soriot, who is leaving Roche. O'Day was previously chief operating officer of Roche Diagnostics.
Roland Diggelman, currently head of the Asia-Pacific region within Roche Diagnostics, will assume the role of chief operating officer and has been appointed as a new member of the executive committee by the board of directors.