C. Thomas Caskey was named chairman of the board of Lexicon Genetics (The Woodlands, TX). He previously served as senior vice president, research at Merck Research Laboratories and president of the Merck Genome Research Institute. Lexicon also named Sam L. Barker, formerly executive vice president, worldwide franchise management and strategy for Bristol-Myers Squibb, to the board of directors.

Aurora Biosciences (San Diego, CA) has named president and CEO Stuart J.M. Collinson to succeed Timothy J. Rink as chairman. Dr. Rink will remain on the board of directors and, in addition, will join the company's scientific advisory board. Aurora also announced the promotion of John R. Pashkowsky, senior director, finance and treasurer, to vice president, finance.

Robert C. deGroofhas been appointed senior vice president, scientific affairs at Alteon (Ramsey, NJ). Dr. deGroof served most recently as president of Keystone Scientific Management, as well as director of regulatory affairs, worldwide development operations for Bristol-Myers Squibb and assistant director of regulatory affairs for Johnson & Johnson.

Kosan Biosciences (Hayward, CA) has announced the appointment of Brian Metcalf as senior vice president and chief scientific officer. Most recently, Dr. Metcalf was senior vice president, discovery chemistry and platform technologies at SmithKline Beecham. Kosan also announced that C. Richard Hutchinson has joined the company as a vice president. Dr. Hutchinson was professor of medicinal chemistry and bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Connetics (Palo Alto, CA) has named former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to its board of directors. Mr. Panetta is currently director of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy at California State University at Monterey Bay.

Orchid BioSciences (Princeton, NJ) announced that it has appointed George Poste and Ernest Mario to its board of directors. Dr. Poste is CEO of Health Technology Networks, a consulting group, and was previously president of R&D at SmithKline Beecham. Dr. Mario is chairman and CEO of ALZA, and was previously deputy chairman and chief executive of Glaxo Holdings.

Jack W. Reich was named chairman of the board of directors of CIStem Molecular Corp. (San Diego, CA). He is a co-founder of Collateral Therapeutics, and serves as CEO and chairman of that company.

Rosetta Inpharmatics (Kirkland, WA) has appointed Gregory Sessler as chief financial officer. Mr. Sessler was formerly CFO and assistant secretary for Sonus Pharmaceuticals.

ArQule (Woburn, MA) has appointed Tuan Ha-Ngoc and Laura Avakian to its board of directors, replacing Allan Ferguson and Joseph C. Hogan. Tuan Ha-Ngoc is the founder and CEO of eHealthDirect, and was formerly corporate vice president, strategic development at American Home Products. Laura Avakian is vice president for human resources at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

HepaVec (Berlin, Germany) has appointed Geoffrey Vernon to its board of directors and Peter Hofschneider to its scientific advisory board. Dr. Vernon is chairman of Ziggus Holdings and former executive director of Rothschild Asset Management. Prof. Hofschneider is emeritus director of the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry and co-founder of Biogen.

David Wang has joined Motorola BioChip Systems (Northbrook, IL) as director of applied genomics. Previously, Dr. Wang supervised human genetics and genotyping technologies in the department of applied genomics at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute. Also, Alastair Malcolm has joined the BioChip Systems unit as vice president and director of operations. He has spent 20 years with Motorola, holding a number of senior leadership positions in the semiconductor products sector.

Inpharmatica (London) has announced the appointment of Malcolm Weir as CEO, effective on 5 June. He is currently director of molecular sciences at Glaxo Wellcome R&D.

Sangamo BioSciences (Point Richmond, CA) has named Alan P. Wolffe senior vice president and CSO. Dr. Wolffe has been director of the department of molecular embryology at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development since 1990.