Dublin, Ireland, April 21st 2008 – ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR), a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced the appointments of Dr. Tom McCloskey as Associate Director, Cellular Immunology, Research and Development and Dr. Alamelu Chandrasekaran to the position of Manager, Molecular Diagnostics at ICON Central Laboratories. These two newly-created roles will enhance the scientific consultation services that ICON Central Laboratories provides to its global customers.
Prior to joining ICON, Dr. McCloskey served as Director of Flow Cytometry for the Department of Pediatrics at North Shore University Hospital, and most recently as Scientist-in-Charge for the Flow Cytometry Core Facility. He brings over 20 years’ experience to assay development using flow cytometry and has written more than 40 manuscripts related to flow cytometry. A frequent presenter at international conferences, he is a member of the New York/New Jersey Flow Cytometry Society and the International Society for Analytical Cytology. In 1998, Dr. McCloskey won the Presidential Award of Excellence, presented to the top young investigator in flow cytometry worldwide.
Dr. Chandrasekaran obtained her Master of Science degree in Biochemistry from University of Madras, India, and PhD in Immunology from MGR Medical University, Chennai, India. She was a post doctoral fellow at the Department of Pediatric Immunology, North Shore-LIJ Research Institute, NY, and then worked as a Research Associate and Research Scientist at North Shore-LIJ Research Core facility and Genomics Center, where she managed QPCR and Microarray facilities. She has intensive experience in assay developments for gene expression and SNP genotyping.
Commenting on the appointments of Dr. McCloskey and Dr. Chandrasekaran, Robert Scott-Edwards, President of ICON Central Laboratories, said, “We are delighted that two such highly-qualified scientists have joined the staff at ICON Central Laboratories. They bring with them extensive knowledge in the areas of molecular diagnostics and flow cytometry and we look forward to them playing a leading role in enhancing the levels of scientific expertise that we can bring to our global customers.”
About ICON Central Laboratories
ICON Central Laboratories, a division of ICON plc, provides full service, global central laboratory services from core facilities in New York, Dublin and Singapore, as well as through a network of quality affiliate laboratories worldwide. An extensive test menu of safety, esoteric and custom-developed assays, including global flow cytometry, is complemented by dedicated, sponsor-specific project teams and a single, comprehensive database for each study as well as a user-friendly, web-based, secure remote data access system. ICON Central Laboratories offer a unique service to manage and compile laboratory data when a client’s study requires the use of local laboratories.
For more information visit www.icolabs.com.
About ICON plc ICON plc is a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The Company specializes in the strategic development, management and analysis of programs that support clinical development - from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies. ICON teams have successfully conducted over 5500 development projects and consultancy engagements across all major therapeutic areas. ICON currently has over 6000 employees, operating from 68 locations in 36 countries.
Further information is available at www.iconplc.com.
