DNAe Completes Its Leadership Team with Key Operational and R&D Appointments as It Takes Forward Its DNA Diagnostic Test for Sepsis

DNA Electronics ("DNAe"), the inventors of semiconductor DNA sequencing technology and developers of a new, revolutionary point-of-need test for sepsis, today announced the completion of its leadership team with the appointment of Kevin Stearn as Operational Director, and Dr David Edington as Vice President, R&D.

London, United Kingdom, September 24, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Kevin Stearn joins as Operations Director and Dr David Edington is appointed Vice President, R&D.

DNA Electronics (‘DNAe’), the inventors of semiconductor DNA sequencing technology and developers of a new, revolutionary point-of-need test for sepsis, today announced the completion of its leadership team with the appointment of Kevin Stearn as Operational Director, and Dr David Edington as Vice President, R&D.

DNAe is at a transitional stage in its development as it moves towards the commercialisation of its semiconductor DNA sequencing technology for healthcare applications where rapid near-patient live diagnosis is needed to provide actionable information to clinicians. The Company’s priority focus is on infectious disease diagnostics, where speed and DNA-specific information can make the difference between life and death, and accurate diagnostics can help tackle the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance.

“Kevin is an important addition to the team: he is a specialist in the manufacture and commercialisation of medical devices but his experience also spans electronics and engineering, ideally positioning him to lead in the application of DNAe’s semiconductor-based genomic analysis technology to a new rapid point-of-need diagnostic test for sepsis,” said DNAe Chief Operating Officer Dr Steve Allen.

Kevin was a pioneer in bringing diagnostics to the consumer market, having played a pivotal role in building the production facilities which enabled MediSense to manufacture the world’s first commercial bio-sensor for diabetes monitoring. Over his 30 year career he has gained experience in a wide range of senior operational and commercial roles. Prior to joining DNAe, Kevin was EMEA Business Development Director for KICTeam, running its European operation, MD of Alere’s UK and Chinese pregnancy test production facilities and MD of Diomed where he introduced a revolutionary new laser treatment, EVLT, to the European and Asia Pacific markets.

Also welcoming Dr David Edington to the team Dr Allen said, “David’s focus is on devices for point-of-need testing and he has been instrumental in the delivery of successful product development programmes for US and EU companies from start-ups to publically-traded companies. He has extensive experience of working with clinicians to translate unmet clinical needs into technically and commercially viable products, which will be invaluable for our R&D programme.”

David spent 12 years leading the development and commercialisation of medical devices at PA Consulting Group’s laboratories in Cambridge, UK and was a founder member of Exacsys Ltd, a point-of-care diagnostics spin-out from PA. His PhD in Physics from the University of Edinburgh, UK involved the development of optical instruments for the analysis of molecular liquids.

Earlier this year DNAe attracted Nick McCooke to the Board as Chief Business Officer. As CEO of Solexa from its spin-out from the University of Cambridge in 2000 to its NASDAQ listing in 2005, Nick led the development of the world’s leading Next Generation DNA Sequencing (NGS) technology, which is the basis of Illumina’s current product line.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Professor Chris Toumazou added, “I am delighted to welcome Kevin and David to DNAe. Along with recent hires of Steve Allen and Nick McCooke to our executive Board, we now have a world class team, with the experience to deliver on our vision of applying our breakthrough sequencing technology to rapid near-patient live diagnostics to improve the management of infectious diseases.”

Notes To Editors

About DNA Electronics – www.dnae.co.uk
DNA Electronics Ltd (DNAe) is commercialising its semiconductor DNA sequencing technology for healthcare applications where rapid near-patient live diagnostics is needed to provide actionable information to clinicians, saving lives by enabling the right treatment at the right time. DNAe’s priority focus is on infectious disease diagnostics, where speed and DNA-specific information can make the difference between life and death. The Company’s first test will be a DNA diagnostic for use in the management of sepsis.

DNAe’s Genalysis® system is a sample-to-result genomic analysis platform based on semiconductor sequencing, built into a USB-sized device for use at the patient point-of-need to diagnose accurately and very rapidly what infection a patient has and to help select the antibiotics that will work to treat the disease.

Through a non-exclusive license to Life Technologies Inc., DNAe’s semiconductor sequencing technology is the core of the Ion Torrent™ Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) systems, proving its performance at the laboratory scale. DNAe’s semiconductor sequencing is more scalable than any other NGS technology available and is thus amenable to nano-scale consumer applications, delivering rapid, accurate and cheap sequence information from a device the size of a USB stick.

A venture capital backed Company employing over 70 staff at its headquarters in London UK, DNAe’s management team is highly experienced in the development and commercialisation of DNA sequencing technologies and is led by CEO and highly acclaimed inventor Professor Chris Toumazou.

Issued for and on behalf of DNA Electronics by Instinctif Partners.

For more information please contact:

DNA Electronics Ltd:
Professor Chris Toumazou, Chief Executive Officer
Dr Steve Allen, Chief Operating Officer
Instinctif Partners (media relations):
Sue Charles / Jen Lewis / Alex Bannister
Tel: +44 (0)20 7036 2100
Tel: +44 (0)20 7457 2020
Email: DNAe@instinctif.com
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DNA Electronics
Jen Lewis
+44 (0)20 7457 2020
http://dnae.co.uk/
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