Linguagen Corp., a developer of new compounds to improve the taste of pharmaceutical, food and beverage products, announced the appointment of Karnail S. Atwal, Ph.D., to the position of vice president, chemistry. As vice president, chemistry at Linguagen, Atwal will lead the company's discovery chemistry programs.

"We are very happy to have a scientist with Atwal's record of outstanding accomplishment join the Linguagen team to lead our chemistry efforts," said Ray Salemme, Ph.D., CEO of Linguagen. "Atwal's extensive experience in the discovery and development of novel compounds acting at a variety of molecular receptors will make him a key contributor to our management and scientific team as Linguagen enters the next phase of research and product development."

Prior to joining Linguagen, Atwal was with Bristol-Myers Squibb for 22 years, where he progressed from research investigator to executive director of discovery chemistry. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, Atwal was responsible for numerous research projects, which ultimately led to nine preclinical candidates.

Previously, Atwal was an instructor of advanced organic chemistry at the University of New Brunswick-Canada. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of New Brunswick and obtained a post doctorate fellowship at Columbia University. Atwal has over 110 publications and U.S. patents.