Cellumen Promotes Patricia Johnston to Chief Scientific Officer

Cellumen, Inc., a discovery toxicology company, today announced the promotion of Patricia "Kate” A. Johnston, Ph.D., to Chief Scientific Officer, in recognition of her valuable contributions to Cellumen and her extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

"Since joining Cellumen, Kate has been an invaluable asset to our team,” says D. Lansing Taylor, Ph.D., CEO of Cellumen. "She has a proven track record of drug discovery achievements, and has played an integral role in successfully managing our discovery collaborations. We look forward to her continued contributions in helping us to support our customers in their drug discovery and development process.”

Dr. Johnston joined Cellumen in 2005 as Vice President of Discovery Programs with more than 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. While at Cellumen, she has led a multidisciplinary research team developing cellular models of disease and the CellCiphr® cellular toxicology profiling panels.

"I am honored to be named Cellumen’s Chief Scientific Officer,” says Dr. Johnston. "I have greatly enjoyed the time I have spent working at Cellumen thus far, and look forward to more successful initiatives in drug discovery and discovery toxicology.”

Prior to joining Cellumen, Dr. Johnston spent more than 10 years with Sphinx (RTP) Pharmaceuticals, a Division of Eli Lilly and Company. She joined Sphinx as a Scientist, before being promoted to Senior Scientist, Head of Lead Generation Biology, and Director of Lead Generation Biology. While at Sphinx, Dr. Johnston was responsible for assay development and HTS operations for Lilly Research Laboratories, and as a result of her oversight, progressed more than 300 drug discovery targets through the lead generation process, from screen development through lead identification.

Dr. Johnston received her B.S. from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., and her Ph.D. in physiology from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Dr. Johnston is a well-published author and is a member of the Society of Biomolecular Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Society of Cell Biology. She is also a member of the Lead Development Team of the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Project, a member of the HTS advisory committee of the National Toxicology Program, and contributes to special emphasis panels for the National Institutes of Health Molecular Libraries Screening Centers Network (MLSCN) and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

About Cellumen

Cellumen is the leading innovator in Cellular Systems Biology (CSB™) solutions providing the most accurate predictions of drug efficacy and safety, thus reducing failure rates and cutting development costs. Cellumen’s CSB solutions are driving Discovery Toxicology by addressing the full complexity of disease and safety. Leading global organizations, including top pharmaceutical companies, the EPA, FDA, and NIH, partner with Cellumen. Cellumen is a partner company of Safeguard Scientifics. Other investors include Novitas Capital, the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, and Innovation Works. For more information about Cellumen, please visit www.cellumen.com.