The New York Genome Center (NYGC, New York) has announced the appointment of Robert B. Darnell (right) as its president and scientific director. One of the world's leading experts in the emerging area of RNA genomics, Darnell will direct all aspects of the NYGC, including its scientific and research activities, and the recruitment and development of a world-class scientific team. He will also join the NYGC board of directors. Additionally, Nancy J. Kelley, founding executive director and member of the NYGC board of directors, will take on the additional title of COO.

'The appointment of Dr. Darnell marks a momentous occasion for the New York Genome Center as we build our science and research capability,' says Russ Carson and Ivan Seidenberg, co-chairs of the NYGC board of directors. 'Bob is deeply committed to our goal of having the NYGC become an independent research institution and a world-class collaborative center for translational genomic research, linking sequencing, bioinformatics and computational biology to the care of patients.' Darnell will remain the Heilbrunn Professor of Cancer Biology at The Rockefeller University, one of NYGC's institutional founding members, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Kristine M. Ball has been appointed as senior vice president and CFO at Relypsa (Santa Clara, CA, USA). She brings almost 20 years' experience in the life sciences industry, most recently serving in the same capacity at KAI Pharmaceuticals. Prior to KAI, Ball served as vice president of finance at Exelixis.

OphthaliX (Carson City, NV, USA) has appointed Gil Ben-Menachem as CEO, effective January 1, 2013. He joins OphthaliX from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, where he served as director of business development at the global branded products division. Prior to that, he served as director of business development at merchant bank and venture capital firm Paramount Bioscience, where he participated in the founding of several biotech companies.

Ken Cunningham has been elected nonexecutive chairman of Prosonix (Oxford, UK), succeeding Jim Philips, who has been chairman since 2007 and is retiring from the board of directors. Cunningham was elected to the board in September 2011, and is also chair of Prosonix's scientific advisory board. He is chairman of PolyTherics and until August 2010 was CEO of Skyepharma. Other previous posts include CEO of Arakis Ltd., vice president, European affairs at Alza and vice president, clinical development at Sequus.

Illumina (San Diego) has announced that Robert S. Epstein has joined the company's board of directors. From 2010 to 2012, he was chief R&D officer and president of global research organization Medco-UBC, and before that, was Medco's chief medical officer for 13 years.

Specialty biopharma company Circassia (Oxford, UK) has named Jean-Jacques Garaud to its board of directors. Garaud has over 25 years of experience in pharma R&D, serving until recently as global head of pharma research and early development at F. Hoffmann-La Roche. He previously held a number of roles at Novartis, including global head of clinical R&D.

Five Prime Therapeutics (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has appointed Julie Hambleton senior vice president and chief medical officer. Hambleton has over 25 years of clinical, academic and drug development experience, previously serving as vice president, clinical development at Clovis Oncology. From 2003 to 2010, she was at Genentech serving in positions of increasing responsibility, culminating in her role as group medical director, global clinical development.

CombiMatrix (Irvine, CA, USA) has named veteran healthcare services executive Jeremy M. Jones to its board of directors. He currently serves as chairman of global staffing firm On Assignment and is on the advisory board of MedidaMetrics. He has also served on the board of US Labs, Byram Healthcare and Cardium Healthcare.

Sorbent Therapeutics (Sunnyvale, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of Jason Levin as chief business officer, a newly created role. Levin brings more than 18 years of industry experience to Sorbent. He previously served as chief business officer at BrainCells and vice president, corporate development at Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

XOMA (Berkeley, CA, USA) has named Joseph M. Limber to its board of directors. He brings over 30 years of biotech and corporate leadership experience, previously serving as president and CEO of ACLARA BioSciences and interim CEO of Deltagen, and currently as president and CEO of Prometheus Laboratories, a division of Nestle Health Science.

Craig Loftus has been appointed to the newly created role of vice president, business development, North America for Sygnature Discovery (Nottingham, UK). His most recent role was as director, new business development, UK and USA at Onyx Scientific.

Kristi Sarno has joined Pfenex (San Diego) as a director of business development. She has 16 years of experience in the pharma and biotech markets, most recently serving as director of business development at Laureate Biopharma.

Living Cell Technologies Limited (Sydney, Australia) has announced the appointment of Paul Tan to the position of chief science and medical officer. Tan has more than 18 years' experience in biotech industry management, serving previously as head of health research at Genesis R&D and as CEO of CenTec Limited. He is currently chair of the board of directors of NZBIO, the New Zealand industry association for bioscience.

Merus (Utrecht, The Netherlands) has named Setareh van Driel Shamsili as chief medical officer. She has more than 22 years of experience in general medicine, internal medicine and medical oncology, and over eight years in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Merus, she served as global medical leader oncology at Astellas Pharma Global Development.