Glasgow University professor Iain McInnes has joined the scientific advisory board of Oxford BioDynamics, a biotechnology company focused on the development of genetic biomarkers which are part of the human genome.
McInnes will apply his expertise as the company's EpiSwitch technology continues to be adopted by leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
The professor is currently the Director of the Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, Muirhead Professor of Medicine and Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Glasgow. He is the President of the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR).
In May, he was recipient of The Carol Nachman prize for rheumatology and last December 2018 was awarded a CBE for his services to medicine.
Oxford BioDynamics has collaborated with Professor McInnes and his teams on several successful research projects since 2014. McInnes joins Professor Karol Sikora, Professor Jane Mellor and Professor Lucien Peng-Jin Ooi on OBD's expanding Scientific Advisory Board.
Christian Hoyer Millar, chief executive officer of Oxford BioDynamics, said: "We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Iain McInnes and to welcome him to the OBD team. Iain is an eminent professor and an expert in inflammatory disease processes, a core focus for us. His knowledge and experience will be hugely beneficial, as we further collaborate with leading pharma, biotech and research institutions."
McInnes said: "I have known OBD for many years now and am extremely impressed with the predictive power of EpiSwitch to identify patients with rheumatoid arthritis who would not respond adequately to methotrexate, the anchor drug used in this disease. OBD's method of stratifying patients could have a profound effect on clinical practice in many disease areas therefore I am looking forward to working closely with my board colleagues and the OBD team to help realise the full potential of the EpiSwitch platform."
