LONDON– UK genomics company, RevoluGen Ltd. (RevoluGen or the Company), today announces Dr Annalisa Jenkins, MBBS, FRCP, as Chair of the Board of Directors.
Dr Jenkins brings over 30 years of global industry experience to RevoluGen’s board, with expertise in scientific research, genomics, regulatory approval and healthcare systems. She is currently a board member of several growing healthcare companies including Affimed, AoBiome, Avrobio, Cocoon Biotech, Compass Pathways, Oncimmune, Ori Biotech, Perspectum and Phaim Pharma.
In addition to her biotech company board roles, Dr Jenkins holds several positions with governmental, academic and not for profit organisations in the UK and USA. These include non-executive director of Genomics England, Chairman of the Court of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, member of the Science Advisory Board to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and trustee of the British Heart Foundation and The Kings Fund.
Dr Annalisa Jenkins is a life sciences business and thought leader. Dr Jenkins previously held multiple leadership positions, including executive vice president, head of Global Research and Development for Merck Serono, where she led Global Medical Affairs and Quality and was a member of Merck Serono’s Pharmaceutical Executive Committee. Prior to this, Dr Jenkins had a successful 14-year career at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), attaining the role of senior vice president and head of Global Medical Affairs. During her tenure at BMS, Dr Jenkins played a key role in the development, approval, and/or commercialisation of products in multiple therapeutic areas, including immuno-oncology, cardiology, immunology and infectious diseases.
Earlier in her career, Dr Jenkins was a medical officer in the British Royal Navy during the Gulf Conflict, achieving the rank of Surgeon Lieutenant Commander. Dr Jenkins graduated with a degree in medicine from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, University of London and subsequently trained in cardiovascular medicine in the U.K. National Health Service.
Welcoming Dr Jenkins to the board RevoluGen CEO, Pieter Haitsma Mulier said, “RevoluGen is at a critical stage in our development as we transition from a R&D organisation to a commercial stage company, bringing the benefit of our revolutionary Fire Monkey HMW DNA extraction technology to DNA sequencing labs and genomics organisations worldwide. Annalisa’ knowledge and network of contacts in the genomics and healthcare fields, as well as her experience of supporting companies as they scale up will be invaluable.”
Dr Annalisa Jenkins commented, “Opportunities for RevoluGen in the genomics revolution are expanding fast. DNA extraction is the essential critical entry step for all and any high-growth DNA sequencing applications, which is a market estimated to grow to >$50bn over the next 10 years. I look forward to working with the team to realise the potential of its technology by partnering with others to accelerate the evolution of the technology platform, the scaling up of the global supply chain and the adoption of the HMW-DNA extraction technology across the academic public and private sectors.”
RevoluGen’s patent-protected Fire Monkey HMW-DNA extraction technology, solves key limitations of the market leading DNA sequencing platforms: long length DNA enables genomes to be read at enhanced structural accuracy – reading through long repeats and structural variations. For medical and epidemiological applications, the combination of long and short read sequencing, so-called hybrid sequencing, and its structural and base calling accuracy is vital.
Fire Monkey is ideal for hybrid sequencing. Extracting DNA for short reads does not pose technical challenges unlike long read requirements and for this reason in many cases DNA is extracted twice from a single biological sample: first with easy widely adapted methods for short reads; and second with a more time consuming and costly method for long reads for selected samples with added cost, delaying long read routine adaptation. Fire Monkey solves this problem because it allows for long DNA extraction using easy, fast and accessible methods. In addition, a validated and automated Fire Monkey process for multiplexed automated HMW-DNA extraction further lowers the overall cost of sequencing and thus accelerate the uptake of sequencing in many high-volume dependent applications.
