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 March 12, 2007 World Renowned Scientist Joins Scientific Advisory Board of Sensigen Ann Arbor, MI and Philadelphia, PA -- SensiGen LLC, a biotechnology company focused on developing advanced gene-based molecular diagnostics announced today that Dr. Nicholas A. Kefalides has joined the company's Scientific Advisory Board. Dr Kefalides is a world renowned expert on the role of connective tissues and basement membranes in degenerative and infectious diseases and cancers, a unique and specialized area of study that sits at the core of the scientific community's efforts to identify and detect unique biomarkers that are the harbingers of a great majority of the world’s most prevalent diseases. "Dr. Kefalides brings to SensiGen more than 50 years of experience as a scientist, physician, professor, and researcher who has dedicated his career to understanding the mechanisms that underlie many of humankind’s most challenging diseases", said Shawn M. Marcell, President and CEO of SensiGen. “We are very fortunate to have ‘Dr. K’ join our scientific advisory board". Dr. Kefalides holds a Bachelor’s degree from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and earned an MD degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine (UICM) in 1956. After a brief tour of duty as a surgeon for the United States Public Health Service, he returned to UICM in 1962 to accept a faculty appointment and pursue research in basement membranes and tissue structures. He earned a PhD from UICM in 1965 with his groundbreaking work characterizing the basic tissue structure of the glomerulus, the key component of the kidney. In 1970, Dr. Kefalides joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, where he remained for 26 years, authoring more than 150 papers, chapters, and books before his retirement in 1996 and his subsequent appointment to the rarely bestowed position of Professor Emeritus. He has continued to be actively involved in research and teaching, and his most recent work, "Basement Membranes: Cell and Molecular Biology", published in 2005, is widely considered to be the definitive authority on the subject. "SensiGen's AttoSense(TM) technology is a major breakthrough in detecting viruses and gene products that signal early onset of disease. I am particularly interested in the application of this new technology on the early detection of kidney disease," said Dr. Kefalides. "The AttoSense™ Kidney Test is potentially the most significant new development in the treatment of kidney disease since the transplant."
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