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For the first time, a BioTalk look inside BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) with Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) Dr. Ethel Rubin

Dr. Ethel Rubin leads a venture team that helps prepare and connect lifescience companies with capital, ensuring strategies that hit valuation inflection points, achieve strategic goals, and prepare for a product launch. She has previously held corporate leadership roles in global clinical strategy and medical affairs at Medtronic, plc, was Chief Scientific Officer of BioFortis, Inc. (acquired by Quintiles-Quest JV) and CSA Medical, Inc., is President of life sciences business development advisory firm Innovative BioStrategies, LLC, and a venture partner at various funds. She has over 25 products in the marketplace garnering 9 figure sales revenue, was instrumental in multiple M&As, partnerships & collaborations, and advises hundreds of CEOs in preparation for seed to series B financing each year. Ethel has held board seats at tech incubators and numerous business and clinical Advisory boards.  Dr. Rubin earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry and a certificate in corporate governance for Board of Directors service from The George Washington University School of Business.

Listen now on iTunes (https://apple.co/318CzZv), Google (http://bit.ly/30WiQfg), and TuneIn (http://bit.ly/2LPtYab).

MaxCyte Founder, President and CEO Doug Doerfler joins BioTalk to discuss his history and the growth of the company. He also shares advice for entrepreneurs

Mr. Doerfler has more than 35 years of experience in the discovery, development, commercialization and international financing of biotechnology products and companies. He was a founder of MaxCyte in July 1998. Previously, Mr. Doerfler was President, CEO and a Director of Immunicon Corporation, a cell-based therapy and diagnostics company. He also held various executive positions with Life Technologies, Inc.(now Thermo Fisher Scientific). Mr. Doerfler plays an active role as a life sciences industry advocate, serving as Chair Emeritus of the MTC and on the executive committee of BIO.

Listen now on iTunes (https://apple.co/318CzZv), Google (http://bit.ly/30WiQfg), and TuneIn (http://bit.ly/2LPtYab).

AMPEL BioSolutions Co-Founder and COO/CSO, Dr. Amrie Grammer guests on BioTalk to discuss building the Company in Charlottesville, VA, her work and recognition at NIH, and being a leader from the southern part of the BioHealth Capital Region.

Dr. Amrie Grammer is the Majority Owner and Co-Founder of AMPEL BioSolutions, located in downtown Charlottesville Virginia. Amrie is a Translational Immunologist specializing in human Autoimmune Diseases. She trained at UVA (BS Chemistry, MS Pharmacology) before receiving her PhD in Immunology at UTSW Medical Center at Dallas. Amrie was recruited to the NIH to establish the B Cell Biology Group in the Autoimmunity Branch of NIAMS during the human genome sequencing project. She received multiple NIH awards for her work comparing signaling pathways and genes expressed in patients vs healthy individuals, including the prestigious Director’s Award.

Amrie founded AMPEL in 2013 to bring precision medicine to individual patients, especially those suffering from lupus to whom she has dedicated her career. Over the last six years, she has used her knowledge to design and implement a pipeline to predict disease activity and the “right drug for the right patient at the right time”. In addition, top drugs she identified for repositioning into lupus have had positive clinical trials. Amrie is a member of Sigma Xi and Sigma Delta Epsilon. She serves as a Chair of the UVA Alumni Board of the professional Chemistry Fraternity, Alpha Chi Sigma. In December 2016, Amrie was elected to the Board of Directors of the Virginia Biotechnology Association (VA Bio). She is also a board member of the University of Virginia Fralin Art Museum (2011-present).

Listen now on Google Play bit.ly/2CzdnA9, iTunes, apple.co/2Arsfze, TuneIn bit.ly/2M60Wmx.

Dr. Marco Chacón sits down for a new episode of BioTalk to talk about his Founding of Paragon to its recent sale to Catalent, his current role with the University of Maryland Baltimore, and being a Leader in the BioHealh Capital Region

Marco A. Chacon, Ph.D., is the Assistant Vice President of Industry Alliances at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. As a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive and entrepreneur, Dr. Chacon works with the leadership team at UMB leading special projects to grow the BioPark tenant base and to strengthen the University’s research collaborations with industry.

Dr. Chacon is the Founder and Chairman of Paragon Bioservices, Inc., a Contract Development and GMP Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) located at the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore. With  ~500 employees and 230k square feet of space, Paragon specializes in the development and GMP manufacturing of viral vectors and vaccines.

Dr. Chacon is also the Founder of IRAZU Biodiscovery, a regenerative medicine company seeking to develop therapeutic interventions to induce hypoxia tolerance and neuroprotection as described in experimental models of caloric restriction and hibernation, as well as during the neonatal period in mammals.

Dr. Chacon’s academic interests include control of metabolism, oxygen homeostasis and the regenerative potential of tissues and organs.

Dr. Chacon received a B.S. degree from Youngstown State University and a Ph.D. Degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the UMB Foundation and was appointed in 2016 to the Life Sciences Advisory Board by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan, Jr.

Listen now on Google Play bit.ly/2CzdnA9, iTunes, apple.co/2Arsfze, TuneIn bit.ly/2M60Wmx.

Dr. Andrew Lees, founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Fina Biosolutions, holds over 25 patents and is the author or co-author of more than 70 peer-reviewed papers. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from The Johns Hopkins University. GlaxoSmithKline, the Serum Institute of India, the Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, and others all use conjugation chemistry (CDAP) developed by Dr. Lees in their S. pneumonia and meningococcal conjugate vaccines. He received the Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2019 for his efforts in making conjugate vaccines affordable for low-income countries.

Dr. Lees is also an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Center for Vaccine Development, an affiliate at the University of Maryland Bioprocessing Scale-Up Facility, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University. He teaches protein chromatography through the post-graduate level and is a frequent speaker on conjugation chemistry and biotech entrepreneurship. 

Listen now on Google Play bit.ly/2CzdnA9, iTunes, apple.co/2Arsfze, TuneIn bit.ly/2M60Wmx.

Crystal R Icenhour, PhD, is one of the rising stars of American biotechnology. After more than 25 years in medical research and biotech, she was named founding CEO of Aperiomics, a company that harnesses the power of next-generation sequencing to identify any known pathogen (bacteria, virus, fungi or parasite) in a single test. Aperiomics is the only company of its kind and scope in the world. Throughout Dr.Icenhour’s career, she has demonstrated strong leadership in business and science and has dedicated herself to “bridging the translational gap between these two worlds.”

Dr. Icenhour is an expert in infectious disease diagnostics and her mission is to change the entire thinking about pathogen diagnosis. Up to 75% of infections are never accurately diagnosed, leaving millions of people suffering from chronic infection. Aperiomics, under her leadership, has developed a technology that identifies all known pathogens – every bacteria, parasite, virus, and fungus – from clinical samples in one test.

Dr. Icenhour holds two patents, has authored and co-authored numerous research articles and theses, and has been a prolific speaker and presenter at scientific conferences.  She has served on review panels for National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency and National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.  She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Duke University Medical Center’s Division of Infectious Diseases in their Department of Medicine.

Before Aperiomics, Dr. Icenhour was president and chief science officer for Phthisis Diagnostics in Charlottesville, VA, a research and development company focused on development of easy-to-use molecular diagnostics for intestinal parasites. While a postdoctoral fellow at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, she was the first to identify and characterize Pneumocystis melanins.

Dr. Icenhour serves as Chairman of VirginiaBIO and was chosen to participate in the SpringBoard Enterprises 2016 class of women-led companies.  She is a member of, Sigma Xi, Medical Mycology Society of the Americas, Association for Molecular Pathology, and the American Society for Microbiology. The Kauffman Foundation and Center recognized her as 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year.

Dr. Icenhour received her PhD in Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine from the University of Cincinnati Medical School of Graduate Studies in 2002.  She conducted postdoctoral research in the Thoracic Diseases Research Unit at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine from 2002-2005 and in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Duke University Medical Center from 2005-2006.  She has been involved in local and national postdoctoral associations including the Mayo Research Fellows Association Executive Committee (president), the Duke University Postdoctoral Association (chair of membership committee), and the National Postdoctoral Association (2008 chair).

Listen now on Google Play bit.ly/2CzdnA9, iTunes, apple.co/2Arsfze, TuneIn bit.ly/2M60Wmx.

Recorded at the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation Competition in College Park in front of a live audience!

Laurie Strongin is Founder and CEO of the Washington, DC-based Hope for Henry Foundation which is reinventing the pediatric patient experience in hospitals around the country. Laurie’s work with Hope for Henry and the memoir she published, “Saving Henry,” have placed her at the forefront of supporting the rights of patients and their families and the responsible use of new medical technologies. Laurie’s advocacy has led her to service on the nation’s preeminent science policy and bioethics panels. Her activism has produced op-eds in national newspapers; appearances on television and radio; collaborations with Congressional leadership; and recognition from the White House. An in-demand inspirational speaker, Laurie has been featured as a People magazine “Heroes Among Us” and was the subject of profiles in the USA Today and the Washington Post and on Good Morning America. Laurie serves on the board of directors of the National Marrow Donor Program/Be the Match; on the Advisory Committee to Disney’s “Team of Heroes,” and on the Advisory Committee of the Association of Child Life Professionals. Learn more athttps://hopeforhenry.org/.

Listen now on Google Play bit.ly/2CzdnA9, iTunes, apple.co/2Arsfze, TuneIn bit.ly/2M60Wmx.

President and CEO Rich Bendis sits down with industry leaders to talk about the forum and their views on the growth of the region.

In Part 1 his guests are John Trainer, VP and one of the partnering heads at AstraZeneca, Chris Frew, CEO of Workforce Genetics & President of BioBuzz Media, and Alex Philippidis, Senior Editor of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.

Listen now on Google Play bit.ly/2CzdnA9, iTunes, apple.co/2Arsfze, TuneIn bit.ly/2M60Wmx.

In Part 2 his guests are Brian Darmody, CEO of AURP & Associate Vice President for Corporate Engagement at the University of Maryland and Vijay Ravindran CEO of 2019 Crab Trap Winner Floreo.

Listen now on Google Play bit.ly/2CzdnA9, iTunes, apple.co/2Arsfze, TuneIn bit.ly/2M60Wmx.

A very interesting episode of BioTalk where Srujana Cherukuri, Ph.D. discusses her path from Intern to CEO and where the company is headed next

Before becoming CEO, Dr. Cherukuri served in multiple roles at Noble Life Sciences including Chief Operations Officer, Chief Scientific Officer, Vice President of Product Development and Operations, and Director of Scientific Affairs.  In her previous roles at Noble, Dr. Cherukuri was instrumental in optimizing new preclinical animal models and streamlining operations to achieve operational efficiency.  In addition, Dr. Cherukuri led the successful consolidation of Noble operations at the Spring Valley Laboratories site. Prior to joining Noble, Dr. Cherukuri held positions at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, National Cancer Institute and University of Maryland where she led projects focused on understanding the basic biology and mechanistic actions in cancer cells. Dr. Cherukuri has expertise in diverse areas of Biology and has 12+ years of research experience in the areas of oncology and stem cell biology.  Dr. Cherukuri completed her PhD in biology at Cleveland State University.

Listen now on iTunes, Google Play, and TuneIn.