Dr. Jim Vaught, Ph.D., Former Chief of BBRB, Joins Provia Laboratories as Advisory Board Member

Provia Laboratories announces the addition of Dr. Jim Vaught, Ph.D. to its growing Advisory Board. Dr. Vaught has worked in the field of biorepository and biospecimen science for over 20 years. As one of the founding members of ISBER – the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories - in 1999, he served as its second president, and 15 years later he is again president-elect.

Littleton, MA (July 18, 2014): Provia Laboratories announces the addition of Dr. Jim Vaught, Ph.D. to its growing Advisory Board. In 2005, Dr. Vaught began working with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research (OBBR), part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He worked specifically on the development of the NCI’s Best Practices for Biospecimen Resources. From 2005 to 2013 Dr. Vaught served as the NIH’s representative to the Interagency Working Group on Scientific Collections, created by the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Additionally, he also served as a member of the NIH Intramural Scientific Director’s Biorepository Committee. In addition to ISBER, Dr. Vaught is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. From 2006 to 2012 he was Senior Editor for Biorepository and Biospecimen Science for the AACR journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. Since 2012 he has been Editor-in-Chief of Biopreservation and Biobanking, the official journal of ISBER.

Dr. Vaught is currently an advisory board member for Biobanques (France) and The Telethon Network of Genetic Biobanks (Italy). Most Recently, until October 2013, Dr. Vaught served as Chief, Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research Branch (BBRB), Cancer Diagnosis Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, NCI, NIH. “We are delighted to add to our team someone with such deep expertise and who has committed 20 years of their life to advancing the critical field of biobanking,” said Howard Greenman, CEO of Provia Labs. Greenman continues, “The methods involved in ensuring precision in this field are complicated, but are instrumental to the advancement of therapies – both as mechanisms to provide high quality biomaterial to the research community, but also to ensure patient’s samples collected at one point in time can be used in the future - safely and effectively.” Dr. Vaught’s addition to the Provia Advisory Board is part of an aggressive plan to grow Provia’s emerging Commercial Biobanking Division which currently offers Biobanking Management Consulting services, biobanking products such as the Proviasette – an optimized storage container for storing solid tissue samples at ultra-cold temperatures (http://www.proviasette.com), and includes a growing business around repository management services. Provia recently moved its corporate headquarters to a large facility in Littleton, MA where it is expanding its repository to support this growth. Additionally, Dr. Vaught will assist Provia in its core business unit – its Consumer Biobanking Division which includes Store-A-ToothTM (http://www.store-a-tooth.com), a consumer service for the private banking of valuable, noncontroversial adult stem cells found in children’s teeth for future clinical use. Dr. Vaught’s expertise will assist Provia in expanding processing and storage capacity for Store-A-Tooth customer samples. About Provia Laboratories, LLC Headquartered in Littleton, MA, Provia Laboratories, LLC is a healthcare services company specializing in high-quality bio-banking (the collection, transport, processing and cryogenic storage of biological specimens). Provia Labs offers the Proviasette™ product range for use in bio-banking environments to improve sample logistics, security and quality. The company manages and promotes its own bio-bank for a dental stem cell banking service, Store-A-Tooth™, which gives families the option to store stem cells to protect their children’s future health and take advantage of advances in stem cell therapies. Provia advises industrial, academic and governmental clients on matters related to the preservation of biological specimens for research and clinical use. Provia Labs is a member of ISBER, the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories, as well as ESBB, the European, Middle Eastern & African Society for Bio-preservation & Bio-banking. For further information about Proviasette™, please call Provia Labs at +1 (781) 652-4815, email pminor@provialabs.com, or visit http://www.proviasette.com.