On October 8, this year's Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to John Gurdon (right) and Shinya Yamanaka (below, right) for their discoveries that mature cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent cells. Gurdon, of the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, UK, and Yamanaka, of Japan's Kyoto University, developed methods for turning back a cell's developmental clock to an embryonic stage.

They will share the prize of $1.2 million for the work on stem cells that Gurdon began 50 years ago and Yamanaka capped in 2006, which is opening up new avenues in regenerative medicine. “These groundbreaking discoveries have completely changed our view of the development and specialization of cells,” the Nobel Assembly at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute said.

Keith Campbell of the University of Nottingham, and former head of embryology at PPL Therapeutics, died on October 5 at the age of 58. In 1991, Campbell started working on cloning experiments at the Roslin Institute in Scotland that led to the birth of Dolly the sheep in 1996, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell for which he received the Shaw prize in medicine and life sciences in 2008.

Neil Belenkie has been appointed CEO of Sirona Biochem (Vancouver, BC, Canada). Outgoing CEO Howard Verrico will remain on as board chairman. Belenkie is the founder of consulting company GrowthPoint Group. Previously, he co-founded RevGen and was a consultant at Odgers Berndston.

Steven Bramer has joined RetroSense Therapeutics (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) as chief development officer. Bramer has over 26 years of drug development experience, most recently serving as chief drug development officer at the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

Proteros biostructures (Martinsried, Germany) has announced the appointment of Arnd Christ as chief financial officer. Christ has over 12 years of experience in the biotech industry. He previously held the same position at MediGene.

Richard Flavell has announced he will transition from his position as CSO at Ceres (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA) to a new role of chief scientific advisor, serving as an exclusive consultant to the company. He will maintain his seat on the Ceres board of directors.

N30 Pharmaceuticals (Boulder, CO, USA) has named Sherif Gabriel to its senior leadership team as vice president of research. He was previously director of the Cystic Fibrosis Correction Core of the University of North Carolina Cystic Fibrosis Center and associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina.

Vaxxas (Cambridge, MA, USA) has announced today that David Hoey has been appointed as CEO and a member of the board. Hoey has over 20 years of executive-level experience, most recently as board member and vice president of business development for PathoGenetix.

Christian Itin has been appointed CEO and a member of the board of directors of Cytos Biotechnology (Zurich). He is expected to succeed Thomas Hecht as chairman of the board in November. Itin was formerly president and CEO of Micromet until the company's acquisition by Amgen in March. Before joining Micromet in 1999, he co-founded Zyomyx.

Medistem (San Diego) has announced the appointment of Alan Lewis as CEO and member of the board. Lewis was most recently CEO of Ambit Biosciences and he currently serves on the board of BioMarin. He has been functioning in the capacity of scientific advisory board member for Medistem since January.

The board of directors of Aratana Therapeutics (Kansas City, KS, USA) has elected Jay Lichter as chairman. Lichter is managing director at Avalon Ventures. In addition, the board added MPM Capital managing director John Vander Vort to the company's board of directors.

Onconova Therapeutics (Newtown, PA, USA) has named Thomas J. McKearn president, research and development. McKearn most recently served as vice president, strategic clinical affairs at Agennix.

Novasep (Pompey, France) has announced the appointment of Roger-Marc Nicoud, founder and CEO, as nonexecutive chairman of the board. Patrick Glaser, who was head of the company's synthesis division since May 2010, has been named president and CEO of Novasep.

Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of Cynthia M. Patton to senior vice president and chief compliance officer. She succeeds Anna Richo, who joined biopharmaceutical company UCB this month as executive vice president and general counsel. Patton joined Amgen in 2005 and was most recently a vice president in the Amgen law department.

Samuel R. Saks has been named to the board of directors of Depomed (Menlo Park, CA, USA). He is a former co-founder and CEO of Jazz Pharmaceuticals and the former senior vice president, medical affairs and group vice president of Alza.

Affymax (Palo Alto, CA, USA) has appointed Karin L. Walker as vice president of finance and chief accounting officer, a newly created position. Walker has over two decades of financial management experience, most recently serving as vice president of finance and corporate controller at Amyris.

Christian Weyer has been appointed president, CEO and a member of the board of directors at Fate Therapeutics (San Diego). He joins Fate after a 12-year tenure with Amylin Pharmaceuticals, where he most recently served as senior vice president of R&D until the completion of its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb in August. William H. Rastetter, a partner at Venrock who has served as Fate's interim CEO since November 2011, will remain as chairman.