Icagen

Icagen, Inc. has made following senior management promotions: Richard Katz, M.D. has been promoted to executive vice president, finance and corporate development, and chief financial officer; Douglas Krafte, Ph.D. has been promoted to vice president of biology and scientific affairs; Mark Suto, Ph.D. has been promoted to vice president of chemical and pharmaceutical sciences.
   
Dr. Katz has held the position of senior vice president, finance and corporate development, and chief financial officer since 2001. Prior to that he worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, most recently as a vice president in the Healthcare Group.
   
“Rich has made significant contributions to Icagen during the last six years. With the combination of his medical and business training and his prior experiences in investment banking, he is able to contribute to our successes on many fronts. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Icagen, I am pleased to announce this well-deserved promotion,” said P. Kay Wagoner, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer.
   
Dr. Krafte has served as vice president of biology for the last six years and previously as director of biology. From 1997 to 1999, Dr. Krafte served as group leader for ion channel research at Aurora Biosciences Corp. Prior to joining Aurora Biosciences, Dr. Krafte held positions at Sterling-Winthrop, Inc. and Boehringer Ingelheim.  
   
Dr. Suto has served as vice president of chemistry for the last four years. From 2003 until 2004, Dr. Suto served as executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Neurion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In 2002, Dr. Suto served as vice president, chemical and biological sciences, at Deltagen Research Laboratories, a subsidiary of Deltagen, Inc. From 1999 until 2002, Dr. Suto served as executive director, chemistry, at DuPont Pharmaceuticals Co. (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb). Prior to joining BMS, Dr. Suto held positions at CombiChem, Inc. and Signal Pharmaceuticals Inc.  
   
“I have worked closely with Doug and Mark over a number of years and have seen them accept broad responsibilities in our research and discovery groups and succeed in those responsibilities. They are well-respected scientific leaders in whom I have the utmost confidence, and therefore I am pleased to announce this significant expansion of their responsibilities,” said Dr. Wagoner.