Agilent Technologies announces first members of new board to help it identify and evaluate technologies and applications that could most benefit customers
Agilent Technologies has announced the formation of a Life Sciences Strategy Advisory Board (LS SAB) which is focused on helping the company identify and evaluate technologies and applications that could have the most benefit to customers.
The first four members of the board were selected from a field of more than 125 candidates to provide strategic advice about industry partnering and investment opportunities, emerging technologies, trends and business models.
"The counsel of this accomplished and diverse set of advisors will be of great value in Agilent's business and product planning," said Chris van Ingen, senior vice president and general manager, Agilent Life Sciences and Chemical Analysis.
"The establishment of this advisory board is one of a series of initiatives that will enable us to more rapidly identify and address the most critical customer needs in the life sciences industry.
This is one more step towards accelerating our growth as a leading supplier of gene expression, proteomics and pharmaceutical analysis solutions." The LS SAB convened at Agilent for the first time yesterday and will meet two to three times each year.
Members include: Paul Herrling, director of corporate research at Novartis International.
Dr Herrling is professor of drug discovery sciences at the University of Basel, Switzerland and a full adjunct professor at the Harold Dorris Neurological Institute in La Jolla, California.
He began his extensive career in academia and the pharmaceutical industry in 1975 after receiving his doctorate from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Anthony F Martin, president and CEO of Molecular Probes.
Dr Martin has over 25 years of experience in the biotech industry and most recently served as president of the molecular biology division of Invitrogen.
He has a doctorate in immunology from the University of Manchester Medical School, UK, and a BS in Applied Chemistry from Huddersfield University, UK.
Mark H Skolnick, founder and CSO of Myriad Genetics.
Dr Skolnick directed the group that cloned the breast cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA1; found the full-length sequence of BRCA2; cloned the MMAC1 (PTEN) tumor suppressor gene; cloned a prostate cancer gene (HPC2); and discovered the tumor suppressor function of p16.
He and several colleagues were the first to conceive of using restriction fragment length polymorphism technology as genetic markers, a breakthrough that underpins the Human Genome Project. He has a doctorate in genetics from Stanford University.
Wendell Wierenga, CEO of Syrrx, an early stage spin-off of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation.
Previously, Dr Wierenga was a senior vice president of research at Parke-Davis/Warner Lambert, now Pfizer.
There he was responsible for worldwide drug discovery and development, including toxicology, PK/drug metabolism, chemical development, pharmaceutics, clinical supplies, information systems and technology acquisition.
He holds a doctorate in chemistry from Stanford University.
