January 11, 2013, Rochester, NY. Diffinity Genomics®, Inc. a biotechnology company that manufactures
and sells consumable products to the life science community, announced today that Joseph M. Marasco,
Ph.D., has joined the company to serve as its President.
Dr. Marasco brings growth-stage business development and operational experience to the company
through his 28 year career of commercializing chemical and biochemical technologies. Prior to joining
Diffinity, he served since 2007 as CEO and board member of Chiral Quest Corp., a US headquartered fine
chemical and active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing firm. Dr. Marasco has served in several
other leadership roles in both early stage and publicly traded firms including Dow Chemical, Beckman,
and Kaneka, where he built a $70 M business in custom product collaborations with major
pharmaceutical firms. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from University of Virginia, and was
awarded a postdoctoral fellowship in Biochemistry at the Walter Reed Medical Center. Dr. Marasco's
international and technical business experience will also aid Diffinity in exploring additional markets and
applications for its proprietary molecular separations technologies.
The Company also announces that Jeffrey L. Helfer will be stepping down from his role as CEO and
member of the Board of Directors. He will continue employment with the Company in a new product
and business development role and as an Executive Advisor through the transition of leadership. The
Diffinity Genomics Board of Directors has appointed Dr. Marasco to the board to replace the vacancy.
These changes are all part of the Diffinity’s succession plan to help ensure that the Company has access
to the expertise necessary to lead the Company through its present growth stage.
Mr. Helfer joined Diffinity Genomics in 2008 and was instrumental in developing and commercializing
the company’s RapidTip® for PCR purification products. “We are deeply appreciative of Jeff’s
contributions over the past five years, building our company, hiring a highly competent development,
manufacturing and sales team, and establishing our global business partnerships,” stated Dr. Lewis
Rothberg, Diffinity Genomics’ Chief Science Officer and co-founder.
About Diffinity Genomics, Inc.
Diffinity Genomics Inc., (www.diffinitygenomics.com) is a Rochester, NY-based biotechnology company
that is developing products for rapid and simple nucleic acid purification and analysis based on its
proprietary Diffinity®
Technology, starting with the Diffinity RapidTip® for PCR purification. Diffinity
Technology is based upon the ability to configure surfaces to preferentially adsorb different types of
nucleic acids.
Contact:
Robin Hodownes
VP, Sales & Marketing
Diffinity Genomics, Inc.
585-272-8141
rhodownes@diffinitygenomics.com