Former PPL director Colman joins ES Cell

Embryonic stem cell researcher ES Cell International (ESI) has announced five senior management positions as it gears up for its development phase.

The company, which has its Australian base at Melbourne's Monash University, holds six of the world's embryonic stem cell lines on the US National Institutes of Health Stem Cell Registry.

Chief executive Robert Klupacs said the appointments, announced yesterday, provided the company with the expertise to convert its platform technology into therapeutic products.

"These appointments greatly strengthen our ability to convert the amazing potential of human embryonic stem cells into actual therapeutic products, revolutionising medicine," Klupacs said.

"We are confident we have now assembled a world-class management team to drive all areas of ESI's business forward."

The new appointments include Dr Alan Colman, who will take up the role of chief scientific officer after 14 years with biopharmaceutical group PPL Therapeutics, where he was responsible for guiding and implementing the company's strategic research program in transgenic technology.

Colman also worked in conjunction with the United Kingdom's Roslin Institute to clone Dolly the sheep.

Also starting with the company as director of molecular and genomic discovery will be Dr Nick Gough, previously research director of Amrad Corporation and foundation CEO of Cerylid.

Klupacs said the appointments of Gough and Colman would work to bridge the gap between ESI's grass roots research and the development of new therapies to treat major neurological, cardiovascular and haematopoietic diseases.

The company also named Michael Vovos as intellectual property manager and Catriona King as chief operating officer.

Zoe Cook has been appointed as a dedicated communications manager.

ESI, which has leading stem cell scientist Professor Alan Trounson heading its scientific advisory board, carries out its research at Monash University, the National University of Singapore, Israel's Hadassah Medical Organisation and the Hubrecht Laboratory in the Netherlands.

The company's work is focused on identifying the stimuli for self-renewal and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells through genomic, proteomic and high-throughput testing.

ESI plans to develop identified targets as growth factors or reagents to grow specifically differentiated cells for transplantation.

Further details of the group's work can be found in Nature Biotechnology - Vol 18, April 2000. Reubinoff et al.