Discovery Life Sciences Appoints Dr. Shawn Levy Chief Scientific Officer

RENOWNED GENOMICS EXPERT TAPPED TO LEAD AND ENHANCE DISCOVERY'S COLLECTIVE SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE AND INNOVATION TO ACCELERATE THE AGGRESSIVE BIOMARKER AND THERAPEUTIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS OF ITS HIGHLY VALUED CUSTOMERS

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Sept. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery Life Sciences™ (Discovery), the Biospecimen and Biomarker Specialists™, announced today the appointment of Shawn Levy, Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer reporting to Chief Executive Officer Glenn Bilawsky.  In this role, Dr. Levy will coordinate and support development of the overall scientific strategy for the business and drive cross-functional collaboration to evaluate and operationalize new and innovative services and technologies to significantly advance new therapies supported by biomarker and companion diagnostic programs.

Dr. Levy joined Discovery in 2019 via its acquisition of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology's Genomics Services Laboratory, which he founded and built into one of the world's premier gene sequencing and bioinformatics laboratories.  In his prior position as Chief Scientific Officer of Genomics, he established an industry-wide reputation for successfully helping manufacturers and researchers evaluate and optimize new leading technologies and methods to support scientific investigation. 

"At Discovery, we differentiate ourselves on science, innovation, technological capability, and scale," said Bilawsky.  "A laboratory filled with technology is of little use without brilliant and highly regarded leaders like Shawn to evaluate, innovate, and deliver scalable solutions.  Dr. Levy's cutting-edge and creative work continues to advance scientific knowledge and significantly enhance the productivity of our customers' research efforts.  It is highly advantageous to us and our customers to now have Shawn take a leadership role in Discovery's commitment to gain and rapidly apply scientific insights to our 'Science at your Service' model."

Dr. Levy received his doctorate in biochemistry and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in genetics in 2000 at Emory University in Atlanta.  Before joining the HudsonAlpha Institute in 2009, he was a faculty member at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the founding director of the Vanderbilt Microarray Shared Resource.  

"At our company's core is a commitment to providing the best capabilities at the right time to drive insight and discovery," said Dr. Levy.  "I am looking forward to leading our scientific strategies and supporting the incredible research team that makes Discovery Life Sciences so unique.  I am excited to be working in this expanded role to advance our scientific programs for the benefit of our customers and collaborators."

About Discovery Life Sciences and HudsonAlpha Discovery 

Discovery Life Sciences is the company of Biospecimen and Biomarker Specialists, combining the world's largest commercial biospecimen inventory and procurement network with preeminent multi-omic biomarker service laboratories to accelerate new therapies supported by biomarker and companion diagnostic programs for cancer, infectious disease, and other rare and complex conditions.  We are a leading provider of highly characterized human cellular starting materials and expert multi-omic analytical services to advance cell and gene therapy research, development, and manufacturing programs.

HudsonAlpha Discovery® is Discovery's sequencing and bioinformatics division, a globally recognized service laboratory that leverages the most current genomic research technologies to comprehensively support discovery, translational, and clinical research. 

Driven by leading scientific expertise and innovative use of current technologies, the Discovery team engages and consults with customers to more rapidly overcome obstacles and obtain results to make critical research and development decisions at market-leading speed.  We are Science at your Service™!  For more information, visit dls.com.