• Geoffrey O'Neill, PhD, has been named president of Bio-Matrix Scientific Group (San Diego). O'Neill most recently served as director of stem cell laboratories and scientific research for Cryo-Cell International and is exploring ways to replace traditional cosmetic and reconstructive surgical procedures with stem-cell procedures. "The appointment of Dr. O'Neill signals our company's aggressive growth plans in stem cell research devices, biomedical devices and the continued growth in the development of our Stem Cell Cryogenic Banks," said Brian Pockett, managing director and chief operating officer. Bio-Matrix Scientific Group is a development-stage company that is aligning itself with partners that offer key technologies in biomedical device development, tissue engineering, cell culturing, genome therapy and drug delivery systems.

• Nima Shiva has been promoted to managing director of Convergent Ventures (Los Angeles), a seed-stage venture investment and development company focused on life sciences and materials sciences. He previously was a principal on Convergent's management team. Shiva has worked in the biotechnology and life science instrumentation industries for more than 14 years, with a focus in drug discovery and, more recently, advanced materials. Convergent is a venture investment and development company whose goal is to create, fund and manage new life science and materials science companies in collaboration with scientists from major academic and biomedical research institutions in the Los Angeles area.

• Henry O'Connell has been named president of Dynex Technologies (Chantilly, Virginia). He most recently served as president/group executive of Idex's Precision Flow Products Group. Dynex is a global supplier of microplate instrumentation and automation products for the biomedical research, drug discovery and clinical diagnostic markets.