BioNanomatrix Appoints Genomic Research Experts Charles Lee and David L. Barker as Advisers
- Bring World-Class Expertise in Structural Genomic Variation and Successful
Commercialization of Innovative Research Technologies -
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- BioNanomatrix, Inc., a developer of
breakthrough nanoscale technologies for biomedical research, molecular
diagnostics and personalized medicine, today announced that Dr. Charles Lee
and Dr. David L. Barker have joined the company's advisory team. Dr. Lee is a
pioneer in the field of structural genomic variation working at Brigham and
Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute. Dr. Barker,
the former chief scientific officer at Illumina, Inc., has had a distinguished
career spearheading the development and commercialization of innovative tools
for life sciences research.
"The additions of Charles Lee and David Barker to our advisory team mark an
important step in BioNanomatrix's transition from a development stage to a
commercial company," said Michael Boyce-Jacino, Ph.D., chief executive officer
of BioNanomatrix. "Our platform has the potential to revolutionize the
analysis of structural genomic variation, and there is no one more
knowledgeable to help guide our efforts in this field than Dr. Lee.
Similarly, Dr. Barker's three decades of experience in successfully
commercializing highly innovative life sciences technologies will be very
valuable as we prepare for market introduction of our single-molecule whole
genome imaging and analysis platform. We welcome these outstanding
individuals to our advisory team and look forward to working with them to
advance our product development programs."
Dr. Lee is currently the director of cytogenetics for the Harvard Cancer
Center, an associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and an
associate member of the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He holds a cross-appointment as an adjunct associate professor at
the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. from the
University of Alberta and was a postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University
and at Harvard Medical School. He has authored over 100 publications in
leading scientific journals and is an associate editor for the American
Journal of Human Genetics. Dr. Lee serves on numerous committees -- he is the
chair of the American Society of Human Genetics Program Committee, founding
principal investigator of the Genomic Structural Variation Consortium and
co-chair of the Structural Genomic Variation Analysis group for the 1000
Genomes Project, an ambitious consortium that is sequencing the genomes of as
many as two thousand people from around the world to create the most detailed
and medically useful picture to date of human genomic variation
(www.1000genomes.org).
"The more we learn about the human genome, the greater our appreciation of the
key role that structural variation plays in disease and health," said Dr. Lee.
"The whole genome imaging and analysis platform being developed by
BioNanomatrix is uniquely well-suited to identifying important structural
variations in the genome and to producing high resolution maps of these
variations. This technology has the potential to help accelerate genomic
research, and I look forward to working with BioNanomatrix to ensure that it
is optimally useful to researchers."
Dr. Lee's laboratory was one of two groups to discover the widespread presence
of structural variation (in the form of copy number variants, or CNVs) in the
genome, and the Genomic Structural Variation Consortium that he helped to
establish subsequently published a first generation CNV map for the human
genome. Dr. Lee has received many awards, including the Inaugural Team Award
from the American Association for Cancer Research in 2007 for "the landmark
discovery of recurrent gene fusions in prostate cancer." In the following
year, he became the youngest-ever recipient of the Ho-Am Prize in Medicine,
characterized as the "Korean Nobel Prize," for his pioneering work in human
genomic variation.
Dr. David Barker formerly was vice president and chief scientific officer at
Illumina, Inc., where he played a major role in the development and successful
commercial launch of a succession of innovative research technologies. Since
its founding in 1998, Illumina has been a leader in the commercialization of
novel technologies for the analysis of genomic variation and function. Dr.
Barker currently is a member of Illumina's Scientific Advisory Board and also
serves on the board of directors of a number of life sciences companies.
Prior to Illumina, Dr. Barker was vice president and chief science advisor at
Amersham Biosciences, now part of General Electric. Previously, Dr. Barker
held senior positions, including vice president of research and business
development, at Molecular Dynamics, Inc.
"BioNanomatrix is developing a novel nanoscale approach that leverages its
proprietary semiconductor technology to enable important genomic analyses that
are currently not feasible," said Dr. Barker. "The technology could be very
valuable as a research tool and ultimately, for routine use in clinical
medicine applications. I welcome the opportunity to work with the
BioNanomatrix team as they move towards commercializing this potentially
game-changing technology."
Earlier in his career, Dr. Barker was an assistant professor at the University
of Oregon and an associate professor at Oregon State University. Dr. Barker
holds a B.S. with honors from the California Institute of Technology and a
Ph.D. from Brandeis University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard
Medical School
About BioNanomatrix
BioNanomatrix is developing breakthrough nanoscale whole genome imaging and
analytic platforms for applications in biomedical research, genetic
diagnostics and personalized medicine. The company is applying its expertise
in nanochips, nanodevices and nanosystems to develop its patented platform
technology to provide fast, comprehensive, and low-cost analysis of genomic,
epigenomic and proteomic information with sensitivity at the single-molecule
level. Its current development efforts include a NIST-ATP funded project to
sequence the human genome at a cost of $100. The company also receives
funding from the National Institutes of Health. BioNanomatrix's technologies
are licensed exclusively from Princeton University. Founded in 2003, the
company is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information,
visit: www.BioNanomatrix.com.