TwinStrand Biosciences Appoints Dr. Gary Gilliland to Board of Directors

SEATTLE, Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TwinStrand Biosciences, Inc., a next-generation DNA sequencing technology company, announced today that Gary Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed to its Board of Directors as the company's fifth board member. Dr. Gilliland brings over 30 years of clinical and research leadership experience, most recently serving as president and director of the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center from 2015 to February 2020.

"Dr. Gilliland is not only one of the most established and well-respected leaders in the Seattle life sciences community, but a pioneering scientist and clinician whose wide-ranging experience will help TwinStrand continue to grow in new and exciting ways," said Jesse Salk, M.D., Ph.D., a founder, CEO and CSO of TwinStrand Biosciences. "Since releasing our TwinStrand Duplex Sequencing™ kits last year, we have seen increased adoption of the technology across pharmaceutical, CRO, academic, and regulatory organizations. As we look to grow our team and expand our footprint in Seattle and beyond, we are thrilled to be joined by Dr. Gilliland and look forward to his strategic guidance and collaboration."

During his time at Fred Hutch, Dr. Gilliland oversaw a period of rapid growth of faculty and public-private partnerships, quadrupled the institution's endowment, and created Integrated Research Centers to help researchers throughout the Fred Hutch/University of Washington Cancer Consortium work together. Dr. Gilliland previously served as a professor at Harvard Medical School, director of the leukemia program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, senior vice president and global oncology franchise head at Merck and Co., and vice dean of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

"We are pleased to have Dr. Gilliland join TwinStrand at such a pivotal time in the company's history, as we build on the momentum of our first year with a commercially available product," said Terry Myerson at Madrona Venture Group, which led TwinStrand's Series A financing in January 2020. "Our confidence in the TwinStrand team is only strengthened with the addition of an industry veteran like Dr. Gilliland, who not only has significant research experience in the fields of genetics and oncology, but also has an equally revered record as a visionary organizational leader."

"I am incredibly impressed with the work Dr. Salk and his team are doing to advance the field of DNA sequencing with their innovative Duplex Sequencing technology, which empowers clinicians and researchers to make decisions with previously unthinkable levels of accuracy," said Dr. Gilliland. "I look forward to working with the TwinStrand team to fully realize the technology's many applications in the clinic and beyond."

About TwinStrand Biosciences, Inc.
TwinStrand Biosciences is leading the way in identifying rare genetic variants that are undetectable by standard sequencing methods. The company's highly sensitive and specific Duplex Sequencing technology delivers clearer insights to researchers and clinicians in applications ranging from residual cancer detection to genetic toxicology. This data can inform critical decisions in clinical medicine, public health, and other fields of science on a faster timescale, where actions are most impactful. TwinStrand's scientist-leaders have authored more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles using Duplex Sequencing and have developed a portfolio of more than 70 patents and patent applications. The company has partnered with pharmaceutical companies, academic centers, clinical research networks and federal regulatory agencies to bring high precision genomics to the forefront of their science. For more information visit www.twinstrandbio.com.

SOURCE TwinStrand Biosciences, Inc.