BOULDER, CO – OPX Biotechnologies Inc. (OPXBIO), Boulder, CO, has appointed David Hogsett Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer. Hogsett, who has extensive early-stage and commercial biotech company experience, will lead OPXBIO’s R&D team in using its proprietary EDGE™ (Efficiency Directed Genome Engineering) technology to make bio-based chemicals and fuels.

EDGE allows OPXBIO to quickly and efficiently develop advanced, economic bioprocesses using a wide range of feedstocks. OPXBIO’s sustainable chemicals and fuels can directly replace current petroleum-based products.

Hogsett most recently was a Vice President of R&D at Mascoma Corp. where he led a research team that included metabolic engineering, enzyme engineering and biochemistry, microbial physiology, analytical chemistry, and process technology experts. He also was responsible for more than a dozen international R&D partnerships with industrial companies, academic institutions and national laboratories. Prior to Mascoma, Hogsett was founder and President of Advanced Bioconversion Technologies, which was acquired by Mascoma in 2006.

OPXBIO is partnering with The Dow Chemical Co., Midland, MI, to bring BioAcrylic – a direct and more-sustainable replacement for petro-based acrylic acid – into the market for use in consumer products such as diapers, detergents, coatings and adhesives. OPXBIO has also demonstrated lab-scale production of its second product – fatty acid from syngas for chemical and fuel applications – in a project that is supported by an award from the U.S. Department of Energy.