George Church and Ron Davis join Pathogenicaè for next generation pathogen detection
Medical diagnostics company adds proven DNA sequencing expertise to Scientific Advisory Board with appointment of renowned serial innovators.
CAMBRIDGE, MA, JUNE 1, 2010 - Pathogenicaè, a pioneer provider of pathogen detection and identification solutions, today announced the addition of distinguished biotech innovators Dr. George Church (Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School) and Dr. Ronald Davis (Director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center), to the company’s scientific advisory board.
Pathogenica will synergize next generation sequencing technologies with the latest advances in pathogen research to deliver flexible, high throughput and low cost assays for the medical diagnostics and bio-surveillance markets.
“George Church is a widely acclaimed inventor with over 25 years experience advancing DNA sequencing technologies to market” said Yemi Adesokan, founder of Pathogenica. “Ron Davis is world renowned for his groundbreaking contributions to the genomics field, and has been involved with multiple start-ups spun out from his laboratory. Together, they will play a key role in bringing Pathogenicaè’s pathogen detection platform to the forefront of the medical diagnostics market.”
Among the twenty-four biotechnology companies either founded or advised by Dr. George Church are Knome Complete Genomics and 23andme, companies that are blazing a path toward affordable commercial personalized genome sequencing. Complete Genomics was Named One of the 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2010 by MIT’s Technology Review.
Dr. Ronald Davis is a co-founder of ParAllele a company subsequently acquired by Affymetrix. Dr. Davis is also an advisor to Ion Torrent, a revolutionary DNA sequencing company that uses semiconductor technology to drastically reduce the cost of focused sequencing efforts.
“The healthcare market is ripe for the application of these breakthrough sequencing technologies to the real world problems that clinicians face when treating patients,” says Adesokan. “Pathogenica is positioned perfectly at this interface to provide custom solutions for pathogen detection and identification with a system that can meet the rapid turn around and high degree of standardization and validation required for the medical diagnostics market. We believe that Pathogenicacan become the first choice assay provider for clinicians diagnosing infections.”
About Pathogenica
Pathogenica, based in Cambridge, MA, was founded in 2009 to pioneer commercial applications of pathogen sequencing. Pathogenica applies next-generation DNA sequencing technology for rapid multiplex identification of pathogens, drug resistance genes and toxins in patient samples. The founding scientific advisory board (SAB) is comprised of distinguished scientists in the field, including George Church, Harvard Medical School, Ron Davis, Stanford University, W.Ian Lipkin, Columbia University, Andrew Onderdonk, Harvard Medical School and Kun Zhang, University of California.
Pathogenica’s high throughput pathogen detection system is expected to enable rapid and highly sensitive detection of a wide variety of pathogens from patient samples using just a common assay protocol. www.pathogenica.com
About Dr. George Church
George Church is Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Computational Genetics. In 1984, with Walter Gilbert, he developed the first direct genomic sequencing method and helped initiate the Human Genome Project while a Research Scientist at newly-formed Biogen Inc., and in 2005, Dr. Church initiated the Personal Genome Project to catalyze the expansion of genomics into human healthcare. He has served in advisory roles for 12 journals (including Nature Molecular Systems Biology), 5 granting agencies and 24 biotech companies (e.g. 23andme & recently founding Codon Devices, Knome and LS9). He earned B.A. degees in Zoology and Chemistry from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University. His current research focuses on integrating biosystems-modeling with personal genomics & synthetic biology.
About Dr. Ronald Davis
Ron Davis is the director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center, a professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a co-founder of ParAllele. He is a leader in the development of biotechnology, and pioneer in the area of genomics and high throughput biochemical techniques. In addition to his work in academia, Professor Davis has been involved in the spin-off of multiple start-up companies in the area of genomics from his laboratory at Stanford. Dr. Davis earned his BS degree in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and botany from Eastern Illinois University and his PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Davis is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has served on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Genome Research Review Committee, and as chairman of the World Health Organization Strategic Research Steering Committee.
Medical diagnostics company adds proven DNA sequencing expertise to Scientific Advisory Board with appointment of renowned serial innovators.
CAMBRIDGE, MA, JUNE 1, 2010 - Pathogenicaè, a pioneer provider of pathogen detection and identification solutions, today announced the addition of distinguished biotech innovators Dr. George Church (Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School) and Dr. Ronald Davis (Director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center), to the company’s scientific advisory board.
Pathogenica will synergize next generation sequencing technologies with the latest advances in pathogen research to deliver flexible, high throughput and low cost assays for the medical diagnostics and bio-surveillance markets.
“George Church is a widely acclaimed inventor with over 25 years experience advancing DNA sequencing technologies to market” said Yemi Adesokan, founder of Pathogenica. “Ron Davis is world renowned for his groundbreaking contributions to the genomics field, and has been involved with multiple start-ups spun out from his laboratory. Together, they will play a key role in bringing Pathogenicaè’s pathogen detection platform to the forefront of the medical diagnostics market.”
Among the twenty-four biotechnology companies either founded or advised by Dr. George Church are Knome Complete Genomics and 23andme, companies that are blazing a path toward affordable commercial personalized genome sequencing. Complete Genomics was Named One of the 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2010 by MIT’s Technology Review.
Dr. Ronald Davis is a co-founder of ParAllele a company subsequently acquired by Affymetrix. Dr. Davis is also an advisor to Ion Torrent, a revolutionary DNA sequencing company that uses semiconductor technology to drastically reduce the cost of focused sequencing efforts.
“The healthcare market is ripe for the application of these breakthrough sequencing technologies to the real world problems that clinicians face when treating patients,” says Adesokan. “Pathogenica is positioned perfectly at this interface to provide custom solutions for pathogen detection and identification with a system that can meet the rapid turn around and high degree of standardization and validation required for the medical diagnostics market. We believe that Pathogenicacan become the first choice assay provider for clinicians diagnosing infections.”
About Pathogenica
Pathogenica, based in Cambridge, MA, was founded in 2009 to pioneer commercial applications of pathogen sequencing. Pathogenica applies next-generation DNA sequencing technology for rapid multiplex identification of pathogens, drug resistance genes and toxins in patient samples. The founding scientific advisory board (SAB) is comprised of distinguished scientists in the field, including George Church, Harvard Medical School, Ron Davis, Stanford University, W.Ian Lipkin, Columbia University, Andrew Onderdonk, Harvard Medical School and Kun Zhang, University of California.
Pathogenica’s high throughput pathogen detection system is expected to enable rapid and highly sensitive detection of a wide variety of pathogens from patient samples using just a common assay protocol. www.pathogenica.com
About Dr. George Church
George Church is Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Computational Genetics. In 1984, with Walter Gilbert, he developed the first direct genomic sequencing method and helped initiate the Human Genome Project while a Research Scientist at newly-formed Biogen Inc., and in 2005, Dr. Church initiated the Personal Genome Project to catalyze the expansion of genomics into human healthcare. He has served in advisory roles for 12 journals (including Nature Molecular Systems Biology), 5 granting agencies and 24 biotech companies (e.g. 23andme & recently founding Codon Devices, Knome and LS9). He earned B.A. degees in Zoology and Chemistry from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University. His current research focuses on integrating biosystems-modeling with personal genomics & synthetic biology.
About Dr. Ronald Davis
Ron Davis is the director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center, a professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a co-founder of ParAllele. He is a leader in the development of biotechnology, and pioneer in the area of genomics and high throughput biochemical techniques. In addition to his work in academia, Professor Davis has been involved in the spin-off of multiple start-up companies in the area of genomics from his laboratory at Stanford. Dr. Davis earned his BS degree in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and botany from Eastern Illinois University and his PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Davis is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has served on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Genome Research Review Committee, and as chairman of the World Health Organization Strategic Research Steering Committee.
