UK genomics company, RevoluGen Ltd. (RevoluGen or the Company), today announces that Nick McCooke, widely recognised leader in the next generation sequencing (NGS) field, has been appointed as Strategic Advisor.
Nick was the founding CEO of pioneering NGS company Solexa, which he took from spin-out to its NASDAQ listing in 2005. Solexa was subsequently sold to Illumina and its sequencing-by-synthesis NGS technology is the basis of Illumina’s world leading DNA sequencing products. Most recently Nick was CEO of Australian-based long read sequencing technology company Longas Technologies, and previously CBO of semiconductor sequencing clinical diagnostics company DNA Electronics.
Currently pursuing a portfolio career, with a focus on disruptive genomics technologies, he has held past board and leadership positions in the UK, Belgium, USA and Japan including Non-Executive roles at Evonetix, Bioventix and Biogazelle, and Executive positions at Oxford Cancer Biomarkers, Pronota, Rapigene, Innovex, Quintiles and Celltech, as well as a Trustee of the Association of Medical Research Charities. Nick has an MBA from London Business School and is a graduate in engineering.
Nick’s engagement follows the appointment last month of Dr Annalisa Jenkins, MBBS, FRCP, as Chair of the Board of Directors and reflects RevoluGen’s transition from a R&D organisation to a commercial stage company.
RevoluGen CEO, Pieter Haitsma Mulier said, “Nick is a recognised star in the NGS field. RevoluGen will benefit tremendously from his longstanding and deep knowledge of DNA sequencing and genomics markets. He is recognised for steering companies through technology commercialisation and M&A, and we look forward to his insights and guidance to steer RevoluGen’s growth.”
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. 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. RevoluGen has validated an automated Fire Monkey process for multiplexed automated HMW-DNA extraction further lowering the overall cost of sequencing and thus accelerating the uptake of sequencing in many high-volume dependent medical and epidemiological applications.
Nick McCooke, Strategic Advisor to RevoluGen said, “The need for technologies that can support hybrid and long read sequencing are rapidly growing, as genomics continues to penetrate healthcare and other high throughput applications. Speed and accuracy at an ever-lower cost is driving organisations in house innovation and their appetite for partnering, investment and acquisition. Fire Monkey provides an attractive extraction solution, as it delivers long-length high-quality library-ready DNA extraction using easy, fast, accessible, and automatable methods. I look forward to working with the team to help maximise its potential.”
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