Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of Mahendra Rao as vice president, research, stem cells and regenerative medicine. Dr. Rao was most recently section chief for stem cells and senior investigator in the laboratory of neuroscience for the National Institute on Aging, a division of the US National Institutes of Health. Dr. Rao will lead the research efforts for Invitrogen's recently formed stem cells and regenerative medicine business.

“I am truly excited about the opportunity to help shape Invitrogen's role in the field of regenerative medicine,” said Dr. Rao. “As the discipline progresses, it will continue to provide the keys that move scientists closer to the promise of these cellular therapies.”

PharmaFrontiers (The Woodlands, TX, USA) has named Gregory H. Bailey and Scott B. Seaman to its board of directors, replacing Brooks Boveroux, Tony Kamin and Terry Wesner, who have stepped down from their positions on the board in connection with the closing of a $23 million financing. Dr. Bailey is managing director, investment banking at MDB Capital, and Mr. Seaman is the executive director of the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation of Houston, a private foundation primarily supporting institutions in the Texas Medical Center in Houston. He is also chairman and president of Impact Composite Technology and a general partner of the Global Hedged Equity Fund.

David Bernstein has joined Javelin Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, USA) as general counsel and chief intellectual property counsel. Mr. Bernstein most recently served in the same positions at US Genomics, and previously he cofounded and served as chairperson for the intellectual property section at Boston's Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo.

George Conrades has joined the board of directors of Microbia (Cambridge, MA, USA). Mr. Conrades is executive chairman of Akamai Technologies, and was the company's first CEO from 1999 to 2005. Previously, he served as CEO of BBN and as a senior vice president and member of the corporate management board at IBM.

Ciphergen Biosystems (Fremont, CA, USA) has named Kenneth J. Conway to the company's board of directors. Mr. Conway previously served as president of the US immunology group at Chiron Diagnostics and founded two companies focused on predictive medicine, Millennium Predictive Medicine and Vitivity.

Peter Emtage (right) has been appointed to the position of vice president of research and development at Stressgen Biotechnologies (San Diego, CA, USA). Dr. Emtage was most recently vice president, R&D and technical operations at Biomira and was previously director of biology research at Nuvelo. He succeeds Marvin I. Siegel, executive vice president of R&D, who is leaving the company.

CellCentric (Cambridge, UK) has named Tim Fell chief operating officer. Dr. Fell previously cofounded Oxford Gene Technology and later served as chief technology officer at Arrow Therapeutics.

Tim Fernback has been appointed chief financial officer of genetic diagnostics company Upstream Biosciences (Vancouver, BC, Canada). He was formerly head of the technology consulting practice for Discovery Capital, led the investment banking and corporate finance departments for Wolverton Securities and is an active director of Okanagan Capital Fund.

Xavier Frapaise has joined Ocera Therapeutics (San Diego, CA, USA) as chief medical officer. Dr. Frapaise was most recently vice president, R&D at TAP Pharmaceutical Products.

Third Wave Technologies (Madison, WI, USA) has announced two appointments to its senior management team: Jorge A. Garces, who joined the company from Genzyme Genetics in October 2005 as executive director of clinical development, has been named vice president of product and platform development, and Cindy S. Ahn has been appointed vice president and general counsel. Ms. Ahn was most recently a partner at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis.

CoTherix (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has named Abhay Joshi as executive vice president and chief technical officer. Dr. Joshi most recently served as vice president of global technical operations, specialty pharmaceuticals at Allergan.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals (Costa Mesa, CA, USA) has announced the resignation of Kim D. Lamon as president, R&D, and chief scientific officer, effective June 30, 2006. Dr. Lamon joined Valeant in 2002 as a member of its board of directors, and was appointed to his current position in 2003. He has agreed to continue to advise Valeant as a member of its scientific advisory board.

Michael Lytton has resigned his position as a non-executive director of Acambis (Cambridge, UK), a position he has held since March 2001. Mr. Lytton is currently a general partner at venture capital firm Oxford Bioscience Partners and previously served as chairman of the technology group at Boston-based law firm Palmer & Dodge.

Radius (Cambridge, MA, USA) has appointed Louis O'Dea as senior vice president and chief medical officer. Dr. O'Dea joins Radius from the metabolic and reproductive health unit of Serono, where he was vice president and head of clinical development. Before that he held a series of senior positions at Serono, including vice president for clinical development and regional medical officer, vice president of clinical development in Japan.

Applied Biosystems Group (Foster City, CA, USA) has appointed Mark Stevenson president of its molecular biology division, which is being renamed the molecular and cellular biology division. He succeeds William V. Murray, who has resigned for personal reasons. In addition, Leonard Klevan will succeed Mr. Stevenson as president of the applied markets division, which produces and markets reagent kits for DNA forensics and other forms of human identification as well as products for biosecurity, food and agriculture, and environmental applications.