Perlegen Expands Leadership Team to Prepare for Landmark Personalized Medicine Programs

   A leader in discovering and understanding the role that human genetic variation plays in patients' response to drugs, Perlegen applies next generation re-sequencing and SNP genotyping across the genomes of thousands of patients to determine those variations associated with given traits of interest. This approach also has utility in identifying patients predisposed to various diseases, as evidenced by the company's recently published findings related to breast cancer and myocardial infarction.

   Joining the company's senior operations team are Ellen M. Beasley, Ph.D., Keith Joho, Ph.D. and Jeff Otto, Ph.D. "With the addition of these key executives, Perlegen's operating team has transitioned to a fully matrixed organization, quickly and efficiently delivering genotype information, production sequencing and genetic analyses aimed at uncovering the important genetic drivers behind variable drug response in a variety of key clinical situations," commented Perlegen CEO Bryan Walser, M.D. "It is a pleasure to welcome Ellen, Keith and Jeff, each of whom shares our vision and urgency to make a real difference in patient treatments."

   Dr. Beasley joins Perlegen as Vice President of Project Management, prior to which she held a number of leadership roles with Celera Group including Senior Director of Therapeutics Alliances, Senior Director of Bioinformatics and Director of Gene Discovery. Prior to Celera, she was a project manager at the Stanford Human Genome Center. Dr. Beasley obtained a B.S. from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago prior to completing postdoctoral training at the Biocenter of the University of Basel (Switzerland) and Stanford University.

   Dr. Joho joins Perlegen as Chief Information Officer, prior to which he served as Senior Vice President of Research and Product Management at Ingenuity Systems. Prior to Ingenuity, Dr. Joho was Vice President of Informatics & Bioanalytical Operations at SurroMed and Director of Bioinformatics at Abgenix. He has also held positions at Roche Bioscience, SUGEN, and on the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the LSU Medical Center in New Orleans. Dr. Joho received his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

   Dr. Otto will join Perlegen in November as Vice President of Production Operations, bringing a breadth of experience in R&D and biotechnology operational management. He has held leadership roles at Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, responsible for that company's genotyping services business, and most recently at Sequenom, Inc. where he was recruited in 2005 to start up that company's services business. Dr. Otto received his Ph.D. in Biology at Marquette University and his MBA at the New York Institute of Technology.

   Keywords: Bioinformatics, Breast Cancer, Breast Carcinoma, Genetics, Heart Attack, Myocardial Infarction, Oncology, Women's Health, Perlegen Sciences.

   This article was prepared by Clinical Oncology Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2007, Clinical Oncology Week via NewsRx.com.

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