PrimeraDx announces the Expansion of its Senior Management Team
Mansfield, MA, January 7, 2009, / -- PrimeraDx, Inc. today announced the appointment of two new members to its senior management team. Dr. Lilly Kong, DVM has been appointed to the new Chief Scientific Officer and Dr. Ming-Chou Lee, PhD has joined the Company as Vice President of Assay Development.
“We are very pleased that Drs. Kong and Lee have joined our team. They bring a tremendous amount of experience and expertise that we expect, will significantly accelerate our development programs and commercialization efforts.” commented Martin L Verhoef, CEO and President of PrimeraDx.
“I am excited to join a company that has the potential to significantly improve personalized medicine through its proprietary quantitative multiplexing platform”, said Dr. Kong.
“It is quite easy to recognize the enormous value the PrimeraDx ICEPlex platform can add to the rapidly growing molecular testing industry, and I am looking forward to joining the talent rich organization of PrimeraDx”, added Dr. Lee
Prior to joining PrimeraDx, Dr. Lilly Kong served as the Vice President of Research and Development for Focus Diagnostics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics, where she was responsible for planning, initiating, directing and executing the scientific research and development with emphasis on both molecular and immunological diagnostics for the Company. Dr. Kong is a veterinarian, virologist and molecular biologist by training, and has worked in the field of infectious disease diagnostics for the last 25 years. She holds a D.V.M. from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, an M.S. in Veterinary Microbiology from Auburn University, and had her postdoctoral fellowship training in Hematology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
Prior to joining PrimeraDx, Dr. Lee served as R&D Director for Focus Diagnostics, where he built and lead a team of scientists in developing molecular diagnostic products for infectious diseases. Prior to joining Focus, Dr. Lee was instrumental in developing sequencing and fragment analysis products for CEQ product line at Beckman Coulter, Inc. Dr. Lee also served as Group Leader at Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan where he contributed to business and new technology development for the local biotechnology industry. Dr. Lee received his BS degree in plant pathology from National Chung-Hsing University in Taiwan, MS degree in microbiology from Texas Tech, and Ph.D. degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Dr. Lee did his postdoctoral work at SmithKline & French Laboratories.
In conjunction with the appointment of Dr. Kong as CSO, the Company’s former CSO, Dr. Vlad Slepnev, Ph.D., will continue his current duties as Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder, and remain part of the leadership team. Dr Slepnev’s change in title more accurately describes his activities as the inventor and developer of the STAR technology platform, and in-house expert on all matters that relate to emerging technological factors that can improve or compete with PrimeraDx.
About PrimeraDx
PrimeraDx is dedicated to the emerging field of molecular diagnostics. The company is developing multiplexed, quantitative and cost effective assays using its proprietary STAR technology implemented on the ICEPlex instrument platform. STAR combines quantitative PCR with the ability to multiplex up to 60 targets in a single sample. The Company’s initial products are for infectious disease management. PrimeraDx plans to extend its focus into oncology to support cancer therapy management through diagnostic, prognostic, staging and therapeutic monitoring. The Company’s website is: www.primeradx.com.