Archangel

Robert Saul, Ph.D.

Dr. Saul received a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the
University of Waterloo (Canada) in 1978.  While an
undergraduate, he did research in therapeutic radiology
and in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).

He received a Ph.D. in Medical Biophysics from the University
of Toronto in 1983. His doctoral research was on human
metabolism of nitrates and nitrites, and his published work
played a key role in the debate regarding the use of nitrites
as a food additive.

From 1983 to 1986, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the
University of California at Berkeley in the Biochemistry
Department, under the supervision of Professor Bruce Ames.  
Here, Dr. Saul studied DNA chemistry and he published
methods on the detection of metabolic products produced
by oxidative damage to DNA.

In 1986, Dr. Saul founded Operon Technologies, Inc., which is
today the leading manufacturer of synthetic DNA
(oligonucleotides).  He invented that company’s initial DNA
synthesis equipment and he made dozens of innovations to
increase the efficiency of DNA synthesis chemistry. He acted
as President of Operon from 1986 to 1999, as CFO from 1995
to 1999, and as Chairman from 1986 to 2000.  In 2000, he
played an active role in the merger between Operon and
QIAGEN, Inc. (NASDAQ: QGENF).  After staying for six months
for the integration of the two companies, he left Qiagen-
Operon in December 2000.

In 2001, Dr. Saul founded Polymorphic DNA Technologies,
Inc., a DNA sequencing company, focusing on the discovery
of SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms).  Polymorphic is
now selling SNP discovery services to academic, medical,
and biotechnology researchers.  He has made important
contributions to Polymorphic’s novel PCR and sequencing
methods.  He currently acts as the company’s President and
Chairman.