N. Leigh Anderson, Ph.D. is Founder and CEO of the Plasma Proteome Institute, Washington D.C. (www.plasmaproteome.org). The Institute aims to foster a comprehensive exploration of the proteins of human blood plasma (the plasma proteome), systematic validation of candidate protein markers, rapid application of novel protein markers in clinical diagnostics, and a broader awareness of the role of protein diagnostics in improving healthcare.

Prior to founding PPI, Dr. Anderson was Chief Scientific Officer at Large Scale Biology Corporation (Nasdaq: LSBC), whose proteomics division he founded in 1985 and led as CEO prior to its merger in 1999 with Biosource Technologies. At LSBC, he developed the first automated two-dimensional electrophoresis technology platform for proteomics research, co-led a successful IPO based largely on the proteomics technology platform (working with J.P. Morgan, Chase H&Q and Wm Blair) and grew the proteomics group into a focused scientific team of more than 60 people.

Dr. Anderson obtained his B.A. in Physics with honors from Yale and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Cambridge University (England) where he worked with M. F. Perutz as a Churchill Fellow at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Subsequently he founded (with Dr. Norman Anderson) the Molecular Anatomy Program at the Argonne National Laboratory (Chicago) where his work in the development of 2‑D electrophoresis and molecular database technology earned him, among other distinctions, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry's Young Investigator Award for 1982, the 1983 Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award; the 2008 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Animal Clinical Chemistry (AACC Division of Animal Clinical Chemistry); and the 2009 HUPO Distinguished Achievement Award in Proteomic Science.

The Andersons together undertook the first systematic “proteomics” investigations of human plasma by 2-D electrophoresis (published in PNAS in 1977), and analyzed plasma protein microheterogeneity and the properties of plasma antibodies. At LSBC, Leigh Anderson initiated a database of plasma proteins observed by proteomics, a collaboration with Pfizer that provided early direct evidence of the utility of multiple plasma protein marker panels in the study of inflammation and anti-inflammatory drug effects, and successful efforts using immunosubtraction to remove high abundance proteins from plasma samples prior to proteome analysis. Dr. Anderson has published more than 140 scientific papers, one book and 37 issued patents.

Dr. Anderson currently serves on the Board of Directors of Luna Innovations (a developer of novel materials and sensors) and was previously a member of the boards of Dade Behring Holdings (a global diagnostics company now part of Siemens Healthcare) and LSBC; the advisory boards of the UVic-Genome BC Proteomics Centre (University of Victoria, BC Canada) and Better Biomarkers of Acute and Chronic Allograft Rejection, A Genome Canada Initiative for Human Health (Vancouver, BC Canada); and as a Principal of Anderson Forschung Group.