Fresh from a $240 million Series B funding announcement September 2, genetics company WuXi NextCODE, announced Wednesday that it tapped Rob Brainin for the position of executive vice president and chief operating officer.

To date, the company has raised $255 million.

Brainin joins WuXi from Illumina, where he was vice president and general manager of life sciences and applied genomics. 

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Brainin comes on board at a critical time for the company as it begins the next phase of growing its platform, Hannes Smarason, CEO of WuXi NextCODE, said in a statement.

Brainin has 15 years of experience leading the product development, market development and commercialization of life sciences and genomics technologies. At Illumina, he served as VP for the arrays business before becoming general manager of life sciences and applied genomics.

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Smarason added that WuXI would continue to push the leading edge of technology for digitizing, managing and analyzing genomic big data, including AI. As he sees it, only a platform with millions of genomes can provide the network effect and knowledge base that enables everyone to derive greater benefit.

WuXi NextCODE is using its funding to accelerate the extension of its platform infrastructure and to bring new users and data on board through precision medicine and diagnostics partnerships. It will also pay for the commercialization of its consumer solutions for the China market.

Twitter: @Bernie_HITN
Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com