THE TEAM | BOARD OF DIRECTORS | SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS | INVESTORS

FOUNDERS

David Baltimore, PhD | Co-Founder
Alex Dickinson, PhD | President, CEO and Co-Founder
Axel Scherer, PhD | Co-Founder
Matthew Johnston | Manager, Research, Co-Founder
George Maltezos, PhD | Chief Engineer, Co-Founder

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Alex Dickinson, PhD | President, CEO and Co-Founder
Adrian Fawcett | Vice President, Development
Judy Macemon | Vice President, Marketing
Sameer Rohatgi | Sr. Director, Business Development
Ark Silbergleit, PhD | Director, Assay Development
Xing Yang, PhD | Vice President, Research

David Baltimore, PhD, Co-Founder Dr. David Baltimore is currently President Emeritus and Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2007 and as is traditional in the AAAS, he now serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for AAAS. From October 1997 to September 2006, Dr. Baltimore was the President of Caltech. Dr. Baltimore was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1968 to 1997, rising to Institute Professor, MIT's highest rank. In 1982, Dr. Baltimore was appointed founding director of MIT's Whitehead Institute, where he remained through June 1990. He was also President of Rockefeller University. His research focuses on cancer, immunology and virology. Dr. Baltimore is a director of Amgen, Inc. and BB Biotech, AG, a Swiss investment company. In 1975, Dr. Baltimore was co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Alex Dickinson, PhD, President, CEO and Co-Founder Previously, Alex was President, CEO and co-founder of Luxtera, Inc., a venture-funded company that has completely redefined how optical technologies are used in an array of applications from communications to sensing. Under Alex's leadership, Luxtera developed the world's first CMOS photonics commercial products that rely on using standard CMOS chip processes to modulate, route and detect light for those applications. Previously Alex was CEO and later chairman of Ethentica, a venture-backed company that - in partnership with its investors Philips Electronics NV and Hewlett-Packard - developed and shipped the world's first flat panel display biometric sensors. Earlier, Alex held the position of Director in Lucent Technologies' New Ventures Group where he was responsible for identifying promising Bell Labs technologies and creating venture-backed companies to commercialize them. Alex is also the co-founder of two successful Australian technology companies. Alex began his technology career at AT&T Bell Labs and has been awarded over 50 US and international patents. He holds a PhD from the University of Adelaide, Australia, and an MBA from Columbia University. He is a director of Luxtera, Inc.

Axel Scherer, PhD, Co-Founder Axel Scherer is the Bernard A. Neches professor of electrical engineering, applied physics, and physics at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He specializes in device microfabrication and packaging. He graduated from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 1985, and has worked in the Quantum Device Fabrication group at Bellcore for the following 8 years. In the past, Dr. Scherer has focused on improving the state of the art of semiconductor microfabrication, which resulted in the development of the smallest vertical cavity lasers (400 nm wide), some of the world's smallest etched structures (6 nm wide), as well as ultra-narrow gratings (30 nm pitch). He has also been working on reducing the sizes of microlasers and changing their emission wavelengths. Dr. Scherer's research laboratory is built around producing nanostructures and applying them to new optoelectronic, magneto-optic and high-speed electronic devices. The aim of his research group is to develop functional devices that use their reduced geometries to obtain higher speed, greater efficiencies, and can be integrated into systems in large numbers. Dr. Scherer is a founder of, and advisor to, Luxtera, Inc.

Matthew Johnston, Manager, Research, Co-Founder Matthew is an accomplished engineer with experience in microfluidics, microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices, and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) very-large-scale integration (VLSI) design, all emphasizing biological applications. He worked extensively on what is now Helixis' core technology, and is presently focused on developing future product technologies. Matthew holds a BS from the California Institute of Technology and an MS from Columbia University.

George Maltezos, PhD, Chief Engineer, Co-Founder Previously George was a graduate student at Caltech where his work on micro and meso scale technologies for molecular diagnostics resulted in the core Helixis' technology. Between 2001 and 2002 George was a graduate fellow at IBM Almaden where he developed holographic data storage systems. In 2002 he became a Bell Labs graduate fellow developing microfluidic transistors. George received his PhD from the California Institute of Technology.

Adrian Fawcett, Sr. Director, Engineering Adrian has 20 years of product development experience in scientific instruments and systems. Over nearly a decade at Applied BioSystems, most recently as director of R&D, Singapore Operations, Adrian led multiple development teams and worked extensively with next-generation real-time PCR systems and related technologies. Earlier, he held R&D management positions with PEBiosciences and Perkin-Elmer, where he focused on development of nucleic acid analysis tools. Adrian holds a Physics BSc (Hons) degree from Lancaster University, UK.

Judy Macemon, Vice President, Marketing Judy has an extensive track record as a senior executive responsible for strategic marketing and product commercialization in life science research and clinical diagnostics companies. Her previous experience includes global business and marketing positions at Invitrogen, Stratagene (acquired by Agilent), Accelerys, Chromagen, Becton Dickinson and Company, and MicroProbe Corporation. At Stratagene Judy led the launch and commercialization of the company's real-time PCR instrument portfolio. Judy also served as director of technical services for the Diagnostics Division of Baxter Healthcare and managed the clinical laboratory for Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. She began her career working in hospital, clinical reference and academic research laboratories. Judy earned a BS degree in medical technology from Louisiana State University, an MS in clinical microbiology from Texas Women's University, and an MBA from San Diego State University.

Sameer Rohatgi, Sr. Director, Business Development Sameer brings significant experience in global marketing, business development, and commercialization of life science tools and molecular diagnostics to Helixis. He held several positions in the Life Science and Chemical Analysis division of Agilent Technologies, including strategic planning for the $1.9 billion business. Most recently, he served as Associate Director, Genomics Marketing where he led the commercial introduction of novel genetic and epigenetic microarray assays that achieved over 20% year over year growth. Earlier, he filled strategic marketing and project management roles at Incyte. He began his career as a management consultant with Ernst & Young LLP. Sameer earned a BSE in biomedical engineering from Duke University, an MS in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University, and an MBA from the George L. Graziadio School at Pepperdine University.

Ark Silbergleit, PhD, Director, Assay Development Ark has worked extensively with nucleic acid-based diagnostics, oligo DNA microarrays, DNA and RNA amplification techniques, real-time PCR assays, and related nucleic acid analysis technologies and applications. His prior industry experience includes development and scientific positions with GeneOhm Sciences, BD Diagnostics, Amersham Biosciences and Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. He has been a visiting scientist at the Basel Institute for Immunology in Basel, Switzerland, a visiting postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a senior scientist at the St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Division of Molecular and Radiation Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences. Ark holds an MS in Biophysics from the St. Petersburg Technical University and earned a PhD in molecular biology from the St. Petersburg State University, both in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is an author of more than a dozen scientific publications.

Xing Yang, PhD, Vice President, Research and Development A prolific inventor with numerous patents, Xing is also a skilled cross-functional team leader. Previously, Xing was Senior Director of Development at BD Diagnostics - GeneOhm. In 2001, he joined GeneOhm Sciences as the first employee after the founders. Initially he led the development of GeneOhm's ePlex®  platform, a multiplexed electrochemical detection system for molecular diagnostics. Later, he was responsible for all R&D efforts at GeneOhm's San Diego site and led the development of a diagnostics product for bloodstream infection. Prior to joining GeneOhm, he was Senior Scientist with ACLARA BioSciences. Xing received his PhD from the California Institute of Technology.