Industrial Microbiology Consultant: Microbial Fermentation, Microbial Physiology and Protein Production

Technical Consultant #1580

Microbial physiology and biochemistry.
Microbial fermentation development for natural products, anti-infectives, whole-cell biocatalysis and heterologously expressed proteins.
Development of high-throughput microbial screening platform.
Cell culture for producing therapeutic proteins by transient transfection.
Diverse bioprocess development in microbial strain improvement using classical techniques and automated screening.

Undisclosed Company, Owner/President, 2008 - Present

Industrial microbiology, fermentation and biotechnology consulting.
Therapeutic protein laboratory production.
Business and product development from the end-user point of view.
Subject matter expert on microbial technology for document review and due diligence.

Merck Research Labs, Bioprocess Research and Development, Rahway, NJ, Senior Investigator, 1991 - 2008

Established and led a small scale protein production team which provided 10 - 100 mg of preclinical therapeutic proteins for evaluation.
Utilized transient transfection, hybridoma cultivation, and Pichia pastoris expression systems.
Led microbial fermentation and strain improvement efforts for a variety of anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, statins, ion-channel inhibitors, and immunoregulant natural products produced by actinomycetes and filamentous fungi.
Led development of the Glarea lozoyensis fermentation process for producing "Cancidas" caspofungin acetate, first in class systemic anti-fungal.
Established a robust, high-throughput (1000 - 2000) microbial screening platform using 24 deep well plates, commercially available liquid handing equipment (TECAN), bioassays where applicable, and high-throughput HPLC.
Whole-cell biocatalysis for the production of chiral intermediates.
Pseudomonas putida dioxygenase bioconversion process converting indene to the corresponding chiral diol, an intermediate in "Crixivan" indinavir sulfate.
Oversaw outsourcing of R&D activities to US and emerging market vendors.

Academic and Professional Affiliations

Editorial Board, Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
Editorial Board, Enzyme and Microbial Technology
Board of Directors, Society for Industrial Microbiology
Program Chair, Society for Industrial Microbiology Annual Meeting and Exhibition
Program Chair, Recent Advances in Fermentation Technology (RAFT V)

Publications

Patents