Cambridge, UK 5^th April 2006… CellCentric, a leading company in the exploitation of epigenetics, has announced the appointment of Dr Tim Fell as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Dr Fell was previously the co-founder of Oxford Gene Technology (Operations) Ltd with Prof Ed Southern, and later became Chief Technology Officer at Arrow Therapeutics Ltd.

Dr Fell’s role will be focused on the co-ordination and delivery of assets from CellCentric’s world class discovery base. He has a strong record of interacting positively with leading academic Institutions, not only through his previous commercial strength, but also through a recent role with the London Technology Network. In addition to his D.Phil from Oxford University, Dr Fell has an MBA from London Business School.

Commenting on the news, Dr Will West, who has moved from COO to Chief Executive Officer, said: “A successful company is built upon a strong leadership team and Tim will greatly strengthen CellCentric’s ability to deliver on our business plan to develop breakthrough products related to epigenetics including novel therapeutic targets and cell fate modulators.”

Dr Fell added “Working on a new‑to‑world technology with Ed Southern seemed a once in a life-time opportunity. To be in a similar position again with Azim Surani and the team at CellCentric is a rare privilege.  I am delighted to be joining CellCentric and to be part of translating world-class science into tangible products.”

Further information

At CellCentric:

Tim Fell, tim.fell@cellcentric.co.uk 

Will West, will.west@cellcentric.co.uk

Media Enquiries:

Rowan Minnion, 0207 886 8150/ r.minnion@northbankcommunications.com 

Notes to editors

About CellCentric Ltd.  www.cellcentric.co.uk

CellCentric Ltd. is a biotechnology company focused on the commercial exploitation of epigenetics and mechanisms that determine cell fate.  The company was founded in May 2004 with initial funding from Avlar BioVentures and Providence Investment Trust and subsequently from The Rainbow Seed Fund and the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA). The company is based upon the world leading research of Prof Azim Surani FRS at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge. 

CellCentric has a research and intellectual property pipeline agreement with the Babraham Institute, one of the largest concentrations of researchers in epigenetics, and has more recently initiated its first anti-cancer target validation and therapeutic development programme with Cancer Research Technology Ltd.  CellCentric has a research programme with Prof Chris Boshoff at UCL, identifying novel epigenetic-related cancer targets as well as collaborators in the US. The company is also generating tools for cell growth and bioprocessing applications.

Epigenetics

Epigenetics is the study of the functional groups that sit on top of genes and their associated proteins. The pattern, or imprint, of these functional groups is responsible for a cell’s specific function and fate. It determines which genes are made accessible to the cell’s machinery for reading and translation into proteins.  The field of epigenetics is expected to radically change traditional approaches to treating diseases, including cancer and degenerative conditions.