SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cyntellect, Inc., a privately-held life sciences company commercializing products to advance life science and stem cell research, biopharmaceutical production, and drug discovery, today announced the appointment of Saiid Zarrabian as President & CEO. A senior life sciences executive with strong leadership and operations experience in both public and private companies, Zarrabian has experience spanning the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and chemical, hardware and tools and services sectors. Zarrabian replaces Fred Koller, Ph.D., who has assumed the position of Cyntellect’s Chief Technology Officer.
“Saiid has spent his entire career working to advance scientific innovation and entrepreneurship. His experience and leadership will be invaluable as Cyntellect advances its high value technology and award winning products into our customers’ research and development processes and emerging commercial applications,” said Cyntellect co-founder Dr. Koller.
Mr. Zarrabian has been consulting with the company and has been acting CEO since March of 2010. He previously served as President and COO of Synomyx, a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and commercialization of new flavors ingredients, as COO of Pharmacopeia, a leading provider of combinatorial chemistry discovery services and compounds, and President and COO of Molecular Simulations, a company providing software, databases and custom services for pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Most recently, he has performed executive consulting services for a variety of small- to mid-sized companies including BioBlocks, eMolecules, Invitrogen, and SciTegic, where he served as executive consultant and acting COO until the company was acquired by Accelrys. Mr. Zarrabian currently serves on the board of biopharmaceutical company Ambit Biosciences, and chemistry eCommerce portal, eMolecules.
Zarrabian commented, “I am delighted to join a very talented team at Cyntellect as we focus on continuing our growth, and building upon the great momentum achieved to date. In the past year alone, Cyntellect has expanded dramatically into Europe and Asia, and has commercialized novel new products for applications in cell line development for biopharmaceuticals, drug discovery and cancer research, including key applications utilizing stem cells. I am also enthused about our strong collaborations which will help Cyntellect to drive high value solutions based on our LEAP™ Cell Processing Workstation and Celigo™ Adherent Cell Cytometer systems. The need to analyze cells easily, and to process cells with precision and efficiency are important challenges in the research community, and will remain a central focus for Cyntellect.”
“We welcome Saiid aboard. He brings to Cyntellect a perfect blend of technology, software, and product commercialization experience combined with a successful track record within the life sciences industry,” said Randal Kirk, chairman of Cyntellect’s Board of Directors.
About Cyntellect
Cyntellect is dedicated to setting new standards in cell analysis, purification, and processing technology. Cyntellect’s products support key applications to advance life science research, biopharmaceutical production, stem cell research and drug discovery. The Company’s technology employs in situ, microplate-based cytometry to analyze cells with minimal sample manipulation, and process cells with great precision and efficiency. Cyntellect’s expanding cellular analysis and processing portfolio is expected to play an enabling role in the coming age of advanced cell-based diagnostics and therapeutics. For additional information please visit www.cyntellect.com
Contact:
College Hill Life Sciences for Cyntellect, Inc. Erik Clausen, 415-230-5385 Erik.Clausen@collegehill.com or Kena Hudson, 415-230-5385 Kena.Hudson@collegehill.com
