In this webinar, Dr. Donald Skifter, Sr. Vice President, Genomics at Discovery Life Sciences will explain how Discovery’s unique CGP pipeline and proprietary RNA-Seq and WES methods address the longstanding challenge of obtaining high quality genomic sequence data from low nanogram quantities of nucleic acid. These custom, automated methods are further enabled by the optimization of a dual DNA and RNA FFPE extraction process that provides higher quality nucleic acids than are obtainable from standard off-the-shelf solutions. These advances will accelerate the speed to understanding complex diseases and the discovery and translation of research biomarkers into clinically actionable biomarkers enabling faster and more accurate targeting of therapies to the right disease in the right populations at the right time.
Speaker Bio:
Donald Skifter, PhD, MBA, Discovery Life Sciences’ Senior Vice President, Genomics is a renowned biotechnology & genomics industry leader responsible for leading genomic application scientific support at Discovery Life Sciences.
Don received his PhD in pharmacology and neuroscience focusing on the molecular and genetic mechanisms of learning and memory at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2002. He received his MBA from the University of Nebraska Omaha in 2001. On the heels of the completion of the human genome project in 2003, following a post-doctoral fellowship in Cambridge, MA, he pursued a career in the commercialization of genomic technologies and next generation sequencing services with expertise in evaluation of oncology genomic biomarkers.
Don’s work history includes Commercial and Technical Application Support leadership roles at several genomic technology and services companies including Invitrogen (now Thermo Fisher Scientific), Sequenom (now Agena Bioscience), Complete Genomics (IPO in 2010), the Broad Institute, and OneOme (a start-up pharmacogenomics spinout of the Mayo Clinic). He currently serves as the Senior Vice President, Genomics within the HudsonAlpha Discovery Genomics division of Discovery Life Sciences.