Dr. Russ Altman Joins NextBio's Scientific Advisory Board
CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 16, 2010 - NextBio, developer of an innovative platform that enables life science researchers to search, discover, and share knowledge locked within public and proprietary data, today announced that Dr. Russ Altman of the Stanford University Medical School has joined the company's Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Altman is Professor of Bioengineering, Genetics, and Medicine as well as Chair, Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University (and a Professor of Computer Science, by courtesy).
Dr. Altman is a recognized thought leader in pharmacogenomics, the study of how human genetic variation impacts drug response. Pharmacogenomics has been a key beneficiary of recent advances in next-generation sequencing technologies. However, the data volumes produced by these technologies need effective management in order to maximize the success of pharmacogenomic research.
"We are honored that Dr. Altman has joined the NextBio team," stated NextBio co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Saeid Akhtari. "Pharmacogenomics is a key area for NextBio, and having Dr. Altman on board will enhance our efforts to develop the NextBio platform for pharmacogenomic applications."
"I am delighted to join NextBio's Scientific Advisory Board," stated Dr. Altman. "NextBio has developed a unique platform for integrating and mining global collections of large-scale biological data. I am excited to contribute to the development of their application in supporting scientists across basic and clinical research."
Dr. Altman's primary research focus is the application of computing technology to molecular biological problems in medicine. He is particularly interested in pharmacogenomics. His other work relates to the analysis of functional sites within macromolecules, and the application of algorithms for determining the structure, dynamics and function of biological macromolecules.
Dr. Altman holds an M.D. from Stanford Medical School, a Ph.D. in Medical Information Sciences from Stanford, and an A.B. from Harvard College. He has been the recipient of the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers as well as a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Medical Informatics, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He is a past President and founding Board Member of the International Society for Computational Biology, and an organizer of the annual Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing. He leads one of seven NIH-supported National Centers for Biomedical Computation, focusing on physics-based simulation of biological structures. He won the Stanford Medical School graduate teaching award in 2000 and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
About NextBio
NextBio is the provider of an innovative platform that enables life science researchers to search, discover, and share knowledge locked within public and proprietary data. NextBio's platform seamlessly combines powerful tools with unique correlated content to transform information into knowledge, providing the foundation for new scientific discoveries. NextBio helps organizations increase productivity and dramatically improve collaboration across therapeutic groups and geographic boundaries. NextBio is delivered as a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution resulting in quick deployment and rapid return on investment.
Today, NextBio is used by researchers at the world's top commercial and academic institutions. NextBio's enterprise solution has been deployed at Burnham Institute for Medical Research, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Genzyme, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Regeneron, Scripps Research Institute, Stanford University, UCB, and Takeda, among many others. To learn more about NextBio, please visit our website at www.nextbio.com
Contact: NextBio
Saeid Akhtari
President and CEO
[email protected]
or
Kureczka/Martin Associates
Joan Kureczka, 415-821-2413
[email protected]