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SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Three business and scientific leaders with early-stage investors today announced the formation of Apostle Inc, a biotechnology company developing a novel bioinformatics-enabled nanotechnology aimed for early cancer detection. This new approach will enable the early assessment of the cancerous signals in human peripheral blood plasma, which is believed to have a significant impact on the global healthcare landscape in both developed countries and emerging markets.

Dr. David Dongliang Ge, an experienced business and scientific leader who was President of BioSciKin Co. and Director of Bioinformatics at Gilead Sciences, will lead the new company. He is joined by two colleagues as co-founders of Apostle and his investment partners. "Biotechnologies, especially those focusing on novel diagnostic or therapeutic advancements aiming for cancer, are among the key focuses in the global economy for the next 5-20 years. By 2020, the market size ofcancerdiagnosis is estimated to reach $168.6 billion. Apostle represents one of these focuses." Dr. Ge said. "With a groundbreaking bioinformatics-enabled nanotechnology approachwe want to inform the general population that we are able to help them identify cancer signals, earlier and more accurate than conventional techniques, and potentially advise their doctors to take highly effective surgical actions. "

"It's been a great pleasure to have the opportunity to work with David and his team on this amazing venture. We're thrilled to work with this scientifically imaginative and visionary company." One of the investors said. Apostleis funded by Amino Capital, ShangBay Capital, Westlake Ventures in the Silicon Valley and a group of individual investors from both the Silicon Valley and China. Apostle is advised by Dr. Charles Cantor, an American molecular geneticist, former director of the Department of Energy Human Genome Project, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as Dr. Hongyu Zhao, the Ira V. Hiscock Professor of Biostatistics and Professor of Statistics and Genetics, Chair of the Biostatistics Department and the Co-Director of Graduate Studies of the Inter-Departmental Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at Yale University.

About Apostle Inc.

Apostle Inc is a biotechnology company in Sunnyvale, CA. It's in the business of the research, development, licensing, and sales of novel bioinformatics-enabled nanotechnologies and the related intellectual properties, products, and services for diagnosis and treatment of human diseases

About the founder team of Apostle Inc.

Dr. David Dongliang Geis CEO and President of Apostle. Previously, he was President of BioSciKin Co. and Simcere Diagnostics Co., two global biotechnology companies headquartered in Nanjing, China. Between 2011 and 2016, he was Director of Bioinformatics at Gilead Sciences, where he founded and provided leadership to the bioinformatics group. Dr. Ge and his group led the phylogenomic analytical support for the critical regulatory approval of Sovaldi, a world-leading anti-HCV drug. In 2014 and 2015, Dr. Ge was invited to be a member of the U.S. NHGRI Special Emphasis Panel. He was appointed as Assistant Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke University School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D.ofBiostatistics and Genetic Epidemiology from Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in 2004. Dr. Ge's work in discovering the IL28B genetic variants associated with the clinical treatment responses, published in Nature in 2009, has received over 3000 times of citations with the U.S. FDA's citation in its several guidance for industry. The invention was licensed to LabCorp and QuestDiagnostics,and has become clinical diagnostic services since then (LabCorp 480630 and Quest AccuType IL28).Dr. Ge has authored over 70 original articles, including 5 in Nature and 1 in Science, in total receiving over 15,000 citations. Dr. Ge was named by the U.S. Genome Technology magazine as one of the "Rising Stars" in 2009, and by the U.K. Phacilitate as one of the "Top 50 Most Influential People in Big Data" in 2015.

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Bo Zhang, Ph.D.is VP of Chemistry of Apostle. Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D.ofChemistry from Stanford University in 2015 and received his B.S.ofChemistry from Peking University in 2010. Dr. Zhang has won the Gold Medal of National Chemistry Olympiad of China in 2006. Dr. Zhang has 10 years of experience in nanotechnology research, with outstanding achievements in developing novel nanomaterials with unique fluorescence characteristics. Dr. Zhang published over 30 original paperson Nature Medicine, Nature Materials, Nature Photonics, Nature Communications, etc. Dr. Zhang's two articles in Nature Medicine about novel nano-platform for type 1 diabetes and Zika virus infection diagnosis have attracted worldwide attention. Dr. Zhang has been PI for research projects funded by the NIH. He holds many patents. Dr. Zhang was the recipient of Materials Research Society Awards, Mona M. Burgess Fellow, William S. Johnson Fellowship, etc.

Xin Guo, Ph.D.is VP of Bioinformatics of Apostle. Previously, Dr. Guo was group leader at Gilead Sciences, in charge of the clinical phylogenomic program for developing Sovaldi. Dr. Guo received his Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from Duke University and M.S. in Informatics from Max Planck Institute of Germany. He received his B.S. in Informatics from Chiba Institute of Technology of Japan. Dr. Guo has over 10 years of experience in the R&D ofhigh performancecomputing, machinelearningand artificial intelligence. Dr. Guo has extensive experience in product development of complex algorithms and databases, with applications in genomic big data.

Wenqi Zeng, MD,PhD, FACMGis Chief Medical Advisor of Apostle. He is Chief Medical Officer of Simcere Diagnostics Co. Previously, Dr. Zeng was Senior Director of Molecular Genetics at Quest Diagnostics and was Director of Clinical Genomics at Ambry Genetics. Dr. Zeng was fellow of Clinical Molecular Genetics and Medical Genetics at Harvard. He received his M.D. from Xiang-Ya Medical School in China and Ph.D. in MolecularPatholgy/Molecular Genetics fromUniversityof Otago. He holds Diploma of American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics(ABMGG),and is a qualified CAP inspection team leader, and a qualified CAP CLIA lab director in CA,FLand MD. He also has NY state COQ in molecular genetics and molecular oncology.

Media Contact: Public Relations, Apostle, Inc, Apostle, Inc, 650-483-5437, pr@apostlebio.com

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Apostle Inc, a Biotechnology Company for Early Cancer Detection, is Founded in the Silicon Valley - Yahoo Finance

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