Meet the PD-Direct® Team
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Our team of process consultants and scientific directors brings decades of experience in designing and running process development programs for biotherapeutics. A member of our team can meet with you to discuss the best solution to your challenge at hand or brainstorm strategies to improve the performance of your manufacturing process. |
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 | Dr. Andrew Campbell, Ph.D., Scientist, Customer Applications and Support Andrew is currently a Scientist with the PD-Direct® Bioprocess Services team. Andrew received his Ph.D. in Biology from Syracuse University where he studied cellular energetics in cancer cells. He joined the PD-Direct® team in 2007, where his current focus is on media development for commercial cell culture applications and cell therapy systems. |
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 | Dr. Stephen F. Gorfien, Ph.D., Director of Customer Applications and Support Dr. Gorfien received his Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and completed postdoctoral training at the Connective Tissue Research Institute in Philadelphia, PA concentrating on vascular cell biology, followed by an American Heart Association Special Investigatorship in endothelial cell-matrix interactions. He joined the Cell Culture Research and Development Department of Life Technologies Inc in 1989 as a Research Scientist working on serum-free medium development. As a Senior Scientist, his work in media development expanded to include serum-free and protein-free formulations for biotechnology applications of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, hybridomas, vascular endothelial cells and insect cells. He is currently Director of Customer Applications and Support, concentrating on media and process development for CHO, hybridoma/myeloma, virus/viral vector production and insect cell culture product platforms. Dr. Gorfien also is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo. |
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 | Dr. Scott J. Jacobia, Ph.D., Sr. Research Scientist, Customer Applications and Support Dr. Jacobia received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Institute for Human Gene Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. At the University of Pennsylvania, his research focused on cancer biology, gene therapy and immunology. Dr. Jacobia joined the Research and Development Department of GIBCO®, Invitrogen Corporation in 2002. He is currently a Manager in PD-Direct® Bioprocess Services and is the Eastern United States and Europe Medium Development Team Leader with 5 direct reports. His current efforts focus on mammalian cell culture medium development and optimization, and supporting bio-industrial customer’s recombinant therapeutic protein and viral expression system applications. |
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 | Dr. Paula Ravnikar, Ph.D., Group Leader for Cell Line Development Dr. Ravnikar is a Group Leader for Invitrogen’s PD-Direct® Cell Line Services. Dr. Ravnikar joined Invitrogen in 2007 after 17 years at Schering-Plough in the Biotechnology Process Development department. Paula brings to the group experience in vector design and cloning, expression of recombinant proteins in microbial and mammalian systems, and genetic characterization of recombinant cell lines. Paula received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from Purdue University, and completed a post-doctoral position with Dr. Lee McIntosh at Michigan State University. |
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 | Miguel Valle, B.S., Senior Scientist, Cell Line Development Miguel Valle received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT and his M.S in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland in College Park while conducting work at the NIH. After 2 years of work at Human Genome Sciences and 5 years of work at BioReliance, Miguel joined the Invitrogen PD-Direct team in 2007. Miguel has over 15 years of cell culture experience with focus on production of viruses and proteins from insect and mammalian cell lines. His currently focus is on the development of stable cell lines for production of recombinant proteins. |
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 | Gregory Van Slyke, B.S., Scientist, Cell Line Development Mr. Van Slyke received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech. Gregory has seven years experience in cell line development and process development for mammalian cell culture, with a current focus on technology integration for cell line development including the ClonePix FL. Previous to his current role, Gregory was part of the Process Development group at BioReliance, where he started in 2002, focused on viral vector and vaccine process development. |
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 | Dr. Florence Wu, Ph.D., Director of Cell Line Development Services Dr. Wu is currently Director of Cell Line Development Services for Invitrogen’s PD-Direct® team, located in Frederick, Maryland. In this role, she oversees the technical operation as well as technology development for new cell engineering products and services. In 1996, Dr. Wu received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN with a focus on bioreactor design and development for applications in cell culture and tissue engineering. Prior to joining Invitrogen, she served for 7 years as Director of Process Development in BioReliance’s Viral Manufacturing Services Division. |
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 | Dr. Zhihua Xiao, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Customer Applications and Support Dr. Xiao received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo and joined the Invitrogen team in 2007. Dr. Xiao has more than 10 years cell culture experience. He is currently a Senior Scientist in PD-Direct® Bioprocess Services and is the western region media development team leader that covers Western United States, South America, Australia, and Asia Pacific. His current efforts focus on media and process development and optimization for the production of therapeutics in mammalian cells. He leads the service applications using High Throughput SimCell™ technology as an expert in this field. |
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 | Alexander Bulloch, Senior Business Development Manager Sandy is a Senior Business Development Manager for Invitrogen’s PD-Direct® Services, with over 18 years experience in cell culture. He has held senior management positions in Operations and Regulatory Compliance before progressing to more commercial roles in 1996. Sandy qualified as a Pharmacist in 1976 and obtained a MSC in Pharmaceutical Engineering in 1985. Before joining Life Technologies in 1989, Sandy worked as a group leader in formulation development with Sterling Winthrop specialising in parenteral and semi-solid dosage formats. |
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 | Dr. Trent Carrier, Ph.D., General Manager for Bioprocess Services Dr. Carrier launched PD-Direct® upon joining Invitrogen and currently serves as the general manager for the business. In 1998, Dr. Carrier received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley with a focus on microbial pathway engineering. Prior to joining Invitrogen in 2005, Dr. Carrier worked in Vaccine Technology and Engineering at Merck and Co. where he supported manufacturing, facility design, and technology transfer for microbial and cell-culture products. |
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 | Dr. Jonathan Dempsey, Ph.D., Process Consultant> Having spent 15 years working in senior roles for Celltech, Lonza and Cambridge Antibody Technology, Dr. Dempsey joined Invitrogen in 2007. He has extensive and relevant experience in the development of industrial processes for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. Dr. Dempsey is an acknowledged expert in the metabolism and physiology of industrially relevant cell lines, in process transfer, scale up and manufacture and the regulatory requirements of our industry. He has worked on a number of novel biopharmaceuticals that are now licensed and on the market. Dr. Dempsey received his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from The University of Edinburgh in 1995. |
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 | Kurt Harbordt, M.B.A., Director of Business Development Kurt is the Director of Business Development for Invitrogen’s PD-Direct® Bioprocess Services. He has over 15 years of experience in the Bioproduction market. Previously to joining Invitrogen, he has held positions in Marketing and Sales Management at BD (Becton Dickinson), Cambrex (BioWhittaker) and 3M Corporation. He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree from California State University, Chico and a Master's of Business Administration from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland. |
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 | Peggy Lio, Process Science Fellow After a noteworthy 22 years at Schering-Plough, Peggy joined Invitrogen in 2006. Peggy brought tremendous experience in developing microbial and cell culture manufacturing processes, having led a process development team responsible for recombinant protein and gene therapy development as well as overseeing pilot facilities for microbial and cell culture production. Peggy is the recipient of numerous awards for her work and technical contributions in product development. Peggy received her B.S. in Microbiology from Cornell University. |
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 | Mary Melcher, Business Development Manager Mary is the Business Development Manger for PD-Direct® BioProcess Services covering the West Coast. She has over 20 years of experience in the Biotechnology Industry, working 11 years at ZymoGenetics in a Procurement role, and 9 years with Invitrogen’s Cell Culture Division. Within these years she has spent 6.5 years as a BioProduction specialist and 1.5 years as a Business Development Manager working with Process Development and Manufacturing groups in both small and large Biotech and Pharmaceutical companies. Her extensive experience has allowed her to provide innovative solutions that have accelerated her customers' success. |
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 | Bryan Monroe, Process Science Fellow Bryan joined Invitrogen in 2002. Previously, he was the Fermentation Group Leader for Process Development and Clinical Manufacturing at Dendreon. There, Bryan’s group was responsible for delivering protein for clinical investigation of prostate and breast cancer vaccines--both of which are currently in late stage clinical studies. Prior to Dendreon, Bryan was responsible for fermentation process development at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he worked on their soon to be approved Rheumatoid Arthritis therapy Orencia, as well as many other projects. He has had the opportunity to take projects expressed in mammalian, insect, and microbial systems into clinical investigation and market approval. Bryan also worked in Manufacturing Engineering Development on the HIV testing kits used to screen the worldwide blood supply. |
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 | Amy Kaczmarek, M.S, M.B.A, Senior Project Manager, Cell Line Services Amy has over nine years experience in management and is currently a Senior Project Manager responsible for cell line services in Frederick, MD. Prior to joining Life Technologies, Amy served as Program Manager at CBMS-JVAP where she led a multi-million dollar vaccine development program for the Department of Defense. Amy first entered the scientific community as a Quality Control specialist for IMMCO Diagnostics in Buffalo, NY before joining USAMRIID where she worked in research and development as a Medical Lab Technician. Amy started her career in management while serving as Branch Operations Manager for Kinko’s, Inc. in Southern California. Amy holds a M.B.A, as well as a Master of Science in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. |
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 | Michael Madigan, P.M.P., Senior Project Manager Mike is currently a Senior Project Manager responsible for custom media services in Grand Island, NY. He received his Project Management Professional (P.M.P.) certification from PMI in 2008, Master Certificate in Project Management from Villanova University in 2007 and B.S. in Business Communication in 1994 from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Mike joined Invitrogen in 1987 and has worked in several roles, including Technical Area Manager for Custom Media development, Production Manager and Manager of Process Engineering. |
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 | Prema Sharma, Associate Project Manager Prema Sharma is an Associate Project Manager for Invitrogen’s PD-Direct® services group in Frederick, Maryland. She is the main point of contact for the client, manages timelines, scope and budget. Previous to her current role, Prema was part of the Process Development group at BioReliance, where she started in 2002. At BioReliance, she focused on downstream processes for the production of viral vectors and vaccines. Prema has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech. |
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 | Jennifer Solazzo, M.B.A., Associate Project Manager Jennifer is currently an Associate Project Manager for the PD-Direct® Bioprocess Services team in Grand Island, NY. Jennifer earned her B.S. in Biotechnology and M.B.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Jennifer joined Invitrogen in 2002, where she performed cell culture, media optimization, and assay development techniques using various cell lines. She then worked with the Customs Feasibility team on cGMP process development and batch record design. |
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