Laboratory Testing & Automation 2019

Mr. Nesbitt completed his Masters degree in Molecular Biology at Simon Fraser University where his work focused on the discovery of new genes in the C. elegans model organism. This experience impressed upon him both the value of next generation sequencing and its vulnerabilities ... to the extensively manual sample preparation steps. Mr. Nesbitt started his professional career in liquid handling automation as a product manager responsible for the development of NGS library construction solutions. He now works with Coastal Genomics to launch its automated gel size electrophoresis solution, Ranger Technology.

Mark Bünger joined Lux Research in 2005. As a Vice President of Research he focuses on strategic planning and advanced technologies and in bio-, aero-, and energy domains. Across over 20 years and 40 countries, he has worked as a management consultant, technology analyst, and ... entrepreneur at Accenture, Forrester Research, and several startups. He has served as chairman of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, and guest lectures at the University of California Berkeley. Mark studied business at Mälardalen Polytechnic (Sweden) and the University of Texas at Austin, and studied and worked in neurology and bioengineering labs at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He is an avid linguist, athlete, and Maker.

My passion is in helping people realize the benefits of taking research, innovation, and development into outer space in our everyday life, as well as in assisting them to take their ideas to outer space to reach a higher potential.

Dr. Robin Felder is a Professor of Pathology and Associate Director of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Virginia-UVA, and is Chair of Medical Automation.org. Dr. Felder received his PhD in Biochemistry from Georgetown University. He has published over 300 papers ... reviews, and chapters, and co-edited 3 textbooks on medical automation. He has been awarded 27 patents and has founded 9 biotech companies, including 2 non-profit organizations including the Association for Laboratory Automation (SLAS) (and its journal JALA) as well as Medical Automation.org. He has received numerous awards including the Engelberger Robotics Award, UVA's Innovator of the Year Award, and the Annual Research Awards from the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), and National Academy for Clinical Biochemistry (NACB).

Tammy Germini, MBA, MT(ASCP), is the Clinical Pathology Operations Director at Geisinger Health System in Central Pennsylvania. After earning a BS in Medical Technology from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, she attended Moses H. Cone School of Medical Technology, and ... was certified by the American Society of Clinical Pathologist in July 1995. She will be receiving her Master's in Business Administration from the University of Scranton in August of 2017. Tammy worked for Spectrum Laboratory Network for 15 years as a Medical Technologist, Supervisor and Stat Lab Manager. She began working for Geisinger Medical Center in 2010 as the Director of Laboratory Excellence then transferred to the Operations Director for Clinical Pathology 5 years ago.

Dr. Datwani joined Labcyte Inc., in 2007 and is responsible for leading internal research programs and managing the advanced developments for the creation of new products and capabilities for the company in the arena of acoustic droplet ejection. Dr. Datwani has over twenty ... years of experience directing, managing, inventing and applying cutting edge research and developments in both industry & academia. Prior to Labcyte Inc., Sammy was a Senior Scientist and the Advanced Technologies Group Manager at Eksigent Technologies, LLC (acquired by Danaher Corp.) where he led the technical development for an integrated high performance liquid chromatography on a chip (cHiPLCTM). From 2000 - 2003, Sammy held the position of R&D Engineer in the Advanced Technology Group at Caliper Life Sciences (acquired by Perkin Elmer) and spearheaded the development of the several LabChipTM devices as well as the Library CardTM which married high throughput drug discovery on a microfluidic chip with a high-density reagent storage array. Sammy graduated with honors from The Johns Hopkins University with a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He holds a M.S. degree from The Columbia University in Chemical Engineering with a concentration in Polymer Science. Sammy earned his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University where his thesis focused both on theory and experiments to gain a fundamental understanding of the adsorption of surfactants, proteins and small molecules to interfaces. Sammy holds several pending and issued patents and has co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications in journals and books. Since 2011, Dr. Datwani has held an appointment as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biomedical, Chemical & Materials Engineering at San Jose State University.