Perfinity Biosciences names Robert Ellis as president and CEO

May 14, 2013  


WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Perfinity Biosciences Inc., a biosciences company based in the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette, announces Robert H. Ellis as its new president and CEO. 

Ellis has 39 years of experience in analytical and biotechnology instrumentation, including 26 years of experience in the field of life sciences. 

"I am excited about Bob becoming involved with Perfinity in a day-to-day leadership role. He has been valuable as a board member for our company, and his energy and specific industry knowledge and experience are exactly what Perfinity needs to go to the next level," said Gene Sponseller, a Perfinity board member. "I believe Perfinity is entering into some very exciting times with a great team and leader helping set our corporate course."

Perfinity Biosciences specializes in protein sample preparation for diagnostics through mass spectrometry analysis.

"I am pleased to join Perfinity's world-class team," Ellis said. "The company's automated protein preparation system is innovative and transformative. It will enable pharmaceutical companies to make more informed decisions in the drug development process."

Ellis serves on the board of directors of SciGene in Sunnyvale Calif., which makes equipment automating CGH Arrays for research and diagnostic applications, and on the board of directors for TissueNetix in San Diego, Calif., which is developing the next generation of cardio toxicity assay. He also an advisor for the Boston-based venture firm Fletcher Spaght Inc.

He served at Woburn, Mass.-based Bio Trove Inc. for six years where he was chairman, CEO and president. During his tenure, Bio Trove grew from approximately $300,000 in revenues during 2003 to an annual rate of approximately $20 million in 2009. He was responsible for the product and business strategy that led to the successful acquisition of Bio Trove's OpenArray® business by Life Technologies Corp. and the spinout of the Rapidfire® business into a separate company Biocius™ which was acquired by Santa Clara, Calif.-based Agilent Technologies Inc. in 2011.

Prior to BioTrove, Ellis was executive vice president of the Santa Clara, Calif.-based Affymetrix Inc. and was responsible for the company's research and development efforts. He spearheaded the development of the company's microarray technology, resulting in the development and introduction of numerous new products. In addition, he started Affymetrix Labs that was created to initiate longer-term research and development projects. 

He was at Applied Biosystems for 12 years where he held various executive positions. At Applied Biosystems, he was business unit manager of the applied genetics and nucleic acid synthesis units that included the forensics, pathogen detection and bioag markets. He was president of Applied Biosystems Japan for five years, and was responsible for growth from $25 million annually to more than $100 million.

Ellis has a bachelor's degree. from Hartwick College and attended graduate school at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He also attended management courses at UCLA's Claremont Business School taught by Peter Drucker.

About Perfinity Biosciences

Perfinity Biosciences is a leader in the development, manufacture and supply of products that automate protein separations and mass spec sample preparation. Perfinity Biosciences is located in the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette, Ind.

About Purdue Research Park

The Purdue Research Park is the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The Purdue Research Park has four sites in the State of Indiana located in West Lafayette, Indianapolis, Northwest Indiana and Southeast Indiana. The nearly 240 companies located in the park network employ about 4,200 people who earn an average annual wage of $63,000. 

Media Contact: Cynthia Sequin, Purdue Research Park (765) 588-3340, casequin@prf.org

Sources: Robert Ellis, (765) 775-1026, rellis@Perfinity.com

 Kevin Meyer, 888-775-1026, info@perfinity.com

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