Executive With 25 Years’ Experience of Successful Life Science Commercialisation To Lead DNA Electronics’ Evolution From Licensing House To Product Business

London, UK, 8th May 2014. – DNA Electronics Ltd, a provider of point-of-care genomic diagnostics solutions for medical and healthcare applications, today announces the appointment of Dr Steve Allen as Chief Operating Officer, along with the doubling of its development team from 30 to 60 scientists and engineers. The appointment of Dr Allen and the expansion of DNA Electronics’ product development capabilities follows the recent investment in the company by the Genting Group. The new funding by existing investor Genting Group will be targeted at developing the Genalysis® genomic diagnostics product line for time-critical point-of-care applications.

Dr Allen is a former Board Member and advisor to Solexa Inc, who developed Illumina’s Next Generation Sequencing platform, and has a 25-year track record of leadership in Life Science companies. Dr Allen has overseen the successful launch of more than 50 new scientific product families.

Commenting on his appointment, Dr Allen said: “I am thrilled to be joining DNAe at this exciting point of the company’s evolution from R&D and licensing house to a fully-fledged product business, developing solutions that have the potential to save lives and improve the health of people around the world. The next decade will see the power of genomics applied rapidly at the point-of-care and I intend to ensure that DNAe is a leader in this field.”

Professor Chris Toumazou, CEO and Founder of DNA Electronics added: “The timing of this key appointment is excellent for DNA Electronics as we now push forward into developing our latest semiconductor-based genomic diagnostic systems. We are absolutely delighted to have an industry executive of Steve’s calibre join our management team and lead this new direction.”

Members of the media interested in scheduling a briefing with DNA Electronics’ new COO Dr Allen can do so by contacting Nicky Denovan at Email Contact.

About DNA Electronics:
DNA Electronics is a developer of semiconductor solutions for real-time nucleic acid detection which enables faster, simpler and more cost-effective DNA analysis platforms.

A spin-out of Imperial College London, DNA Electronics was founded by Professor Toumazou following his invention of the company’s core technology that allows CMOS transistors to be switched on and off with DNA – the key invention enabling semiconductor-based sequencing. Prof. Toumazou’s innovation has culminated in the world’s first DNA logic on standard CMOS technology.

The company’s IP portfolio includes techniques for monitoring nucleotide insertions using ion-sensitive transistors, enabling label-free electronic DNA sequencing and diagnostics platforms. DNA Electronics (DNAe) has developed the ground-breaking Genalysis® platform of disposable silicon chip-based solutions for real-time nucleic acid sequence detection at the point of care, providing end users with technology as yet unavailable outside a laboratory.

DNA Electronics has a non-exclusive, field-limited licensing agreement with Ion Torrent (now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific), whose next generation sequencing technology is based on DNA Electronics’ semiconductor sequencing IP. DNA Electronics has also licensed its Genalysis® technology platform to GENEU™, a company that is delivering on-the-spot genetic analytics services for cosmetics and skincare applications.

For more information: http://www.dnae.co.uk

Contact:
Nicky Denovan
Email Contact
+44 (0)844 870 8025
+44 (0)7747 017654