CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia, November 17, 2009/ -- HemoShear, LLC, a developer of innovative, cell-based, human surrogate models for discovery and assessment of new drug compounds in the laboratory announces that Edward LeCluyse, Ph.D., has joined HepaShear, a newly formed division of HemoShear, to lead development of an advanced human surrogate model of the liver. LeCluyse will serve as HepaShear’s Chief Scientific Officer.
“We are very excited to have Ed lead the HepaShear team,” said Jim Powers, CEO of HemoShear. “Ed is an internationally-recognized thought leader in liver cell biology and an expert in laboratory-based liver models.”
Prior to joining HepaShear, LeCluyse was Chief Scientific Officer of CellzDirect, Inc., a leading provider of in vitro hepatic products and services for drug and chemical testing.
After CellzDirect was acquired by Invitrogen, now Life Technologies Corp., LeCluyse served as Vice President of Hepatic Technologies. In the course of LeCluyse’s academic career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he consulted with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration working group during the preparation of the latest guidance on conducting drug-drug interaction studies.
“I strongly believe HepaShear will revolutionize the way pharmaceutical companies study and treat debilitating liver diseases, such as hepatitis and cirrhosis,” said LeCluyse. “HepaShear’s advanced human surrogate model of the liver will offer a superior alternative to traditional methods of study because it will recreate the natural environment of human liver tissue in the laboratory. The true genius of the model is that it employs a specialized technology to combine human blood flow patterns with human tissue architecture.”
The Company expects to complete development of the liver model and begin HepaShear’s commercial operations by late 2010.
About HemoShear, LLC HemoShear’s proprietary technology recreates physiological function of human cells and tissue by applying human-derived blood flow forces to cultures of primary human vascular cells in the laboratory. HemoShear works in strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to identify and validate pathways of disease progression, and to assess the efficacy and safety of new drug compounds. For information about HemoShear, please visit www.hemoshear.com. About HepaShear HepaShear, a division of HemoShear, provides scientific expertise and a proprietary human surrogate liver model to study liver diseases and accelerate discovery of innovative drug therapies in a novel system that closely mimics the biology and architecture of the human liver. Utilizing HemoShear’s proprietary technology which applies human blood flow patterns to recreate the functions of human liver tissue, HepaShear will vastly improve the ability to identify new drug targets and discover compounds that have a greater likelihood of successful treatment of liver diseases.
