The Mayo Clinic and Cancer Genetics have teamed up to launch OncoSpire Genomics, which aims to use next-generation sequencing for cancer biomarker discovery and to develop products that predict disease outcomes and guide treatment (see story, this issue).
The firm has appointed an initial board of governors, consisting of six members, three Mayo Clinic appointees and three Cancer Genetics appointees. Gianrico Farrugia, head of Mayo's Center for Individualized Medicine is on the board along with Scott Beck, administrator of the Mayo's Center for Individualized Medicine and Kathy Bates, director of business development for Mayo's Medical Laboratories. The three representatives from Cancer Genetics are Founder and Chairman of the Board Raju Chaganti, CEO Panna Sharma, and John Pappajohn, a member of the firm's board of directors.
Ruby Gadelrab has taken on a senior role in marketing and development at InVitae. She recently served as senior director of marketing for international markets at Affymetrix. She also has held positions at Dharmacon, Serologicals, Life Technologies, and Invitrogen.
Molecular diagnostics firm Ignyta, which purchased Actagene Oncology last week, has made Actagene's former CEO, Patrick O'Connor, its new chief scientific officer.
Ignyta also has added several new faces to its management team: Jean-Michel Vernier, who previously led chemistry groups at Ardea Biosciences, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, and Merck Research Laboratories, will be VP of medicinal chemistry; Paul Pearson, former global head and VP of pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism at Amgen, will lead PK, drug metabolism and safety; and Dave Matthews, scientific founder of Agouron Pharmaceuticals, will be head of Crystallography.
Ignyta also said that James Bristol, who previously was worldwide head of Pfizer Discovery and head of discovery and chemistry at Warner-Lambert/Parke Davis, has joined its scientific advisory board.
Transgenomic's stockholders have elected company President and CEO Craig Tuttle to serve on its board of directors for a three-year term. Tuttle has been president and CEO at the company since 2006, and before that he was president and COO of Duke Scientific, and president and CEO of Applied Biotech.