Takara Bio USA, Inc. Announces the Retirement of Carol Lou, Appoints Andrew Farmer as President and CEO

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Takara Bio USA, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc. ("Takara Bio"), today announced that Carol Lou will retire as President and Chief Executive Officer of Takara Bio USA on July 10 after more than two decades with the company. Andrew Farmer, D.Phil., who has served as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research and Development since 2017, has been appointed as the new President and CEO, effective July 13.

“On behalf of Takara Bio, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to Carol for her many years of dedicated service and leadership,” said Tsuyoshi Miyamura, President and Chief Executive Officer of Takara Bio Inc. “Carol has made lasting contributions to Takara Bio USA through her focus on customers, scientific excellence, and operational discipline. She has helped create a culture committed to delivering high-quality, innovative tools that enable researchers to do their best work. We wish her well in her retirement. We are also pleased to congratulate Andrew Farmer on his appointment. His scientific leadership, long history with the company, and deep understanding of our technology and customers make him the right leader to carry forward this legacy and guide Takara Bio USA’s continued progress.”

Carol Lou has served as President and CEO since 2005. Prior to joining Takara Bio USA, she led Clontech Laboratories through a period of rapid growth in the 1990s, including the integration with BD, before returning to lead the business into its next phase. During her tenure at Takara Bio USA, she helped expand the company’s portfolio through strategic acquisitions that included WaferGen Bio-systems, Rubicon Genomics, and, in 2025, Curio Bioscience. She strengthened Takara Bio USA’s commercial and operational foundation and positioned the company for continued leadership across important areas of discovery, including next-generation sequencing, single-cell analysis, spatial biology, and cell and gene therapy. During Farmer’s transition, she will continue to support Takara Bio USA in an advisory role.

“It has been an honor to be part of the Takara Bio team and to work alongside such a talented and dedicated group of colleagues,” said Lou. “I am proud of what we have built together and the role that Takara Bio USA plays in helping advance good science. Andrew’s deep scientific background, collaborative leadership, and commitment to customer-focused innovation make him an outstanding choice to lead Takara Bio USA. I am confident he will continue to keep customers at the center of the company’s mission while delivering the exceptional products and services that help researchers ultimately improve human health.”

Farmer brings nearly three decades of experience to his new role. He joined Takara Bio USA (formerly Clontech Laboratories) in 1998 and has held leadership roles spanning product development, business development, and scientific innovation. Over the course of his career, he has been responsible for the development of several scientific product lines, including two-hybrid systems, viral delivery and inducible expression systems, and the In-Fusion® Cloning system. More recently, he led the development of Takara Bio USA’s NGS product line, including its suite of ultra-low-input RNA-seq products. Farmer holds a D.Phil. in cell biology from the University of Oxford.

“Carol has been an exceptional leader and mentor over many years of working closely together, so it is a tremendous honor to follow her example,” said Farmer. “She has strengthened Takara Bio USA by keeping the organization deeply connected to its customers, grounded in scientific rigor, and focused on solving the practical challenges that shape discovery. As I step into this role, my priority is to build on that foundation while ensuring we continue to evolve with the needs of the scientific community. The next era of discovery will be driven by more powerful technologies, deeper biological data, and new ways of turning that data into cohesive insights. We have an important role to play by helping researchers and biopharma partners take powerful AI-enabled approaches to generate the high-quality data needed to accelerate discovery and advance the next generation of medicines.”

For more information, visit www.takarabio.com.

About Takara Bio

Takara Bio USA, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc. that manufactures and distributes kits, reagents, and instruments for the life sciences, including NGS, PCR, gene delivery, genome editing, stem cell research, nucleic acid and protein purification, and automated sample preparation.

Takara Bio Inc., a world leader in biotechnology research and development, offers a host of life science research solutions, from enzymes and GMP-grade reagents to contracted cell and gene therapy manufacturing services and is the developer of the RetroNectin^® reagent, a world standard in gene therapy protocols. Takara Bio is committed to preventing disease and improving the quality of life for all people through the use of biotechnology.

For more information about Takara Bio USA’s spatial biology solutions, visit www.takarabio.com/spatial-solutions.