Adarza Biosystems, Inc. brings the best business, scientific and operations minds together as a dynamic, forward thinking human-centered force dedicated to the transformative promise of science.
Management
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Bryan Witherbee

President and CEO

Bryan joined Adarza BioSystems in January of 2017 to provide leadership as Adarza transitions from a technology developer to a commercial technology provider. Bryan’s career has spanned scientific, business development, and senior leadership positions in large research institutions and early stage startups in pharma, ag biotech, and life science technologies. He brings many years of experience with a successful track record in developing and commercializing new technologies. Bryan’s career started at Sigma Diagnostics where he developed and commercialized clinical immunoassays and coagulation reagents. Over the next 20 years he held various R&D leadership roles at Monsanto and Pfizer. He most recently served as Scientific Leader within the Genomics Division at Becton Dickinson (BD) where he provided leadership for the successful commercial launch of solutions for NextGen Sequencing and single cell genomics. Prior to that he was CSO at GenCell Biosystems, which was acquired by BD in 2014. His key accomplishments include identification and implementation of microfluidic technologies for molecular biology applications, frozen cell technologies, and various high throughput multiplexing technologies for systems biology. Bryan has a BS in Biochemistry from Truman State University.

Bryan Witherbee
President and CEO
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Christopher Striemer, Ph.D.

Vice President of Technology

Chris is a founder and current Vice President of Technology for Adarza, responsible for technology development for the next generation Arrayed Imaging Reflectometry assay system. Pursuing applications relevant to his doctoral experience applying silicon nanostructures in biological applications and alternative energy fields, Chris spent the last 12 years working for university spinout companies that bridge the gap between precisely structured silicon chips and biological environments. He brings a wealth of expertise to Adarza in engineering process development, thin film optics and nanoscale materials. Chris has co-authored over 10 patent applications, has 30 peer-reviewed publications, has been the Principle Investigator on Phase I and II SBIR projects with total funding over $2.5M, and has been invited to present his work on optical biosensing and nanostructured materials at conferences in the U.S. and Europe. He received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Rochester.

Christopher Striemer, Ph.D.
Vice President of Technology

Bob Crepin

Vice President of Manufacturing

Bob initially joined Adarza in April of 2016 as a consultant on silicon processing. In July of 2016, Bob joined Adarza full time as Director of Manufacturing. With over 40 years of experience in the semiconductor silicon wafer industry with SunEdison Semiconductor (formerly Monsanto Electronic Materials Company-MEMC, he brings a wealth of knowledge in the silicon chip industry with extensive background on laboratory operations, silicon metrology, and semiconductor device processing. Bob has built, managed and maintained semiconductor labs throughout his career, including his undergraduate time at Washington University. During his tenure at Monsanto, he developed materials for LEDs and solar applications as part of the Optoisolator Group at Monsanto. After the Optoisolator business was sold, Bob continued supporting novel materials technology development and started the first Applications Lab for Monsanto’s silicon business. The Applications Lab blossomed into a global operation and provided development, manufacturing, and sales of several silicon-based tests and materials. After the transition of MEMC to SunEdison Semiconductor, he continued to build valuable expertise applied to silicon wafer technologies. He retired from SunEdison Semiconductor in 2016 as an Associate Fellow. Bob has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.

Bob Crepin
Vice President of Manufacturing
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Jon Schmuke

Chief Scientific Officer

Jon joined Adarza in March of 2017 as Vice President of Research and Development leading the development of biosensors for use with the AIR technology. He brings over 30 years of experience and a successful track record of developing, expanding, and automating technology. His ability to leverage extensive automation in liquid handling, small volume assays, innovative cloning techniques, quality systems and leadership of researcher scientists was instrumental in developing Monsanto’s world class plant biotechnology platform. He most recently served as the lead of the BioDirect program at Monsanto producing RNA biomolecules at scales suitable for research up to large scale manufacturing. Prior to that he has led a variety of research teams at Monsanto driving high throughput molecular characterization, molecular biology, protein biology, and plant transformation. In earlier research at GD Searle Jon published articles in fields of glycobiology, inflammation, and infection. Jon has a BS in Biochemistry from University of Missouri.

Jon Schmuke
Chief Scientific Officer

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Linda Meeh, Ph.D.

Chief Commercial Officer

Linda joined Adarza in September of 2017 as Chief Commercial Officer leading the commercialization efforts as the company moves aggressively forward to launch their new label-free multiplex detection platform. Linda has worked in the healthcare and life science industries for over 14 years in various capacities in research and development, marketing, and business development. In addition, she has over 10 years of biotechnology and healthcare consulting experience providing market analysis, forecasting and analytics, and strategic planning for clients from pre-launch to life cycle management. Of significance, Linda was Director of Strategic Marketing and business lead for the multiplexing and immunoassay segment at EMD Millipore. During her 7 years at EMD Millipore, she managed the Luminex xMAP® protein detection multiplex market segment and led the business evaluation of numerous multiplex detection technologies for the life science and diagnostic markets. She received her BS in chemistry and mathematics from Greenville College and her PhD in physical chemistry from Washington University.

Linda Meeh, Ph.D.
Chief Commercial Officer
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Jason Mitchell

Director of Engineering

Jason joined Adarza in March of 2017 as Director of Engineering to provide engineering leadership during the company’s transition from a technology developer to a commercial technology provider. He brings over 13 years of experience developing automation systems in unique environments. He most recently served as Senior Mechanical Engineer within the Global Supply Chain at Monsanto. Throughout his experience Jason has worked on a wide variety of challenging automation needs from high speed die casting, to high throughput non-destructive seed DNA harvesting systems, to prototype large scale farming equipment. Jason is also a thriving entrepreneur with an ongoing business offering to assist product development and design with potential inventors. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Missouri University of Science & Technology.

Jason Mitchell
Director of Engineering

Nanette Langevin

Director of Quality Assurance

Nannette Langevin joined Adarza in May of 2017 as the Director of Quality Processes. Nan has 19 years of experience at Monsanto and the USDA delivering data to achieve program goals for high-throughput DNA screening environments. She has a passion for team-driven process improvement, including Agile and LEAN methodologies, as well as a vast amount of experience in ISO certified labs. Nan has been a key member of leadership teams designing and executing strategies to scale existing laboratory processes into qualified services and products for the life science and agricultural industries. Nan is a proven, successful leader that excels in developing and implementing quality systems. She received her BS in Biology and MS in Molecular Biology from St. Louis University.

Nannette Langevin
Director of Quality Assurance
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Randy Motluck

Director of Software Engineering

Randy joined Adarza in March of 2017 as Director of Software Engineering to bring experience and leadership in information technology and software design, a key element of the Adarza multi-analyte assay system. Randy brings over 20 years of experience developing software applications for a variety of industries. He most recently served as Senior IS Architect at BioMerieux, a global clinical diagnostics company and as the principal at his own consulting firm. Throughout his experience, Randy has worked on a diverse set of software needs including telecommunications switching and provisioning, automated order processing, high throughput genotyping, insurance claims systems, to more recently data integration and clinical trial systems. Randy holds a BS and MS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois.

Randy Motluck
Director of Software Engineering
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Nakul Tandon

Chief Financial Officer

Nakul joined Adarza in April of 2019 as Director of Finance to provide finance leadership as the company enters the commercialization stage. He most recently served as an Analyst at RiverVest Venture Partners where he performed financial analysis on investment opportunities, existing portfolio companies and exit strategies vis-à-vis valuation, capital structure, competitors, potential acquirers and returns. Additionally, he provided finance and operations support to portfolio companies of RiverVest’s Archer Seed Fund, including serving as Treasurer for two of them. Nakul received his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Delhi and Master of Science in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis. He has passed two levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program.

Nakul Tandon
Chief Financial Officer

Board of Directors
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Joe Biller

Joe joined 3×5 Partners as a Managing Director in August 2019. Previously, Joe was a Managing Director at SightLine Partners, where he helped raise $250M+ over 15 years to invest in the healthcare sector, with a focus on medical devices. During his tenure at Sightline, Joe served on numerous boards and completed transactions in over 50 companies. He began his career at Bremer Asset Management.

Joe Biller

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John McKearn, Ph.D.

John McKearn joined RiverVest® in April 2008 as a venture partner and became a managing director in April 2011. He has almost 30 years experience as a successful “drug hunter and developer” in both large and small biopharma, including a decade in small-cap and venture-backed companies.

John serves on the board of Allakos, Inc., Tioma Therapeutics, Inc. and Viba Therapeutics, Inc., all RiverVest portfolio companies. He is a former director at Otonomy, Inc., which completed an initial public offering, chairman of Lumena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Shire plc in June 2014, and a former director of ZS Pharma, Inc., which also completed an initial public offering and was subsequently acquired by Astra Zeneca. Prior to joining RiverVest, he was president and CEO of Kalypsys, Inc., and has served on the boards of IDM Pharma, Inc. (acquired by Takeda), Epimmune and Keel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. John holds more than 50 patents and numerous patent applications, primarily in the areas of cancer treatment and inflammatory disease.

John worked as a scientist with Searle / Pharmacia, from 1987-2003, including head of discovery research from 1997-2003. Through his efforts, John helped establish the groundwork for new studies that led to the commercialization of several major products, including DayPro, Arthrotec, and most notably, Celebrex, one of the leading pharmaceuticals to treat arthritis.

Prior to 1987, John was a senior scientist at E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company; a member of the Basel Institute for Immunology in Basel, Switzerland; and a research associate in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Additionally, he has co-authored more than 70 published, peer-reviewed scientific papers. John completed his Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Chicago and his B.S. in biology from Northern Illinois University.

John McKearn, Ph.D.

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David Smoller, Ph.D.

Prior to joining Horizon Discovery as their Chief Business Officer, David was CEO of Sage Labs. Sage Labs was a life science company developing genetically modified rodents using gene editing technologies. Sage was acquired in 2014 by Horizon Discovery. Previous to Sage Labs, David was chief Scientific Officer for Sigma-Aldrich. David joined Sigma-Aldrich in June 2004 as Vice President of R&D, a role in which he helped to expand the company’s leadership position through the development of new and innovative products for Life Science and High Technology research. In October of 2005 he expanded his role from R&D to operations, heading up both R&D and operations for the Research Biotech Business Unit. In July of 2007 he was promoted to President of the Research Biotech Business Unit within Sigma Life Science to drive the implementation of a number of commercial initiatives in the Functional Genomics, Proteomics, Regenerative Medicine, Cell Biology and Animal Models and services areas.

Prior to joining SIgma-Aldrich, David was CEO and President of ProteoPlex, Inc., a seed stage spinout focusing on functional genomics. He founded ProteoPlex, Inc. in 2001 and led the St. Louis-based company through its product development and final acquisition by EMD Biosciences (Merck KGaA).

In 1992, David founded Genome Systems, Inc. in St. Louis which provided the scientific community with access to genome project-related technologies. He stayed at the helm of the organization during its acquisition in 1996 by the Incyte Corporation, based in Palo Alto, CA, and was promoted to Senior Vice President and leader of the organization’s St. Louis operations, where he grew the staff to more than 250 people. During his tenure at Incyte, his responsibilities expanded and included the management of the $150M Genomic Business Unit. This responsibility included overseeing the management of 700 employees, as well as managing the strategic planning, product marketing and research and development strategy of the unit.

David earned a doctorate degree in Molecular Biology and a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Emory University in Atlanta. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis in the Drosophila Genome project and a postdoctoral fellowship at Monsanto Corporation. He is a board member of the center of Emerging Technologies, the St. Louis Academy of Science, Washington University National Research Advisory Council, and The advisory Council of the Biomedical Engineering Department of Washington University, as well as a number of start up biotech companies.

David Smoller, Ph.D.

Scientific Advisory Board
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Benjamin L. Miller, Ph.D.

Ben is Chair of Adarza’s Scientific Advisory Board and a co-inventor of the Arrayed Imaging Reflectometry technology. In addition to his efforts with Adarza, he is a Professor of Dermatology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rochester. He is an inventor and author of numerous patents and scientific publications on biosensing, materials science, molecular recognition, drug discovery and organic synthesis. Ben has presented over 115 invited lectures world-wide. He received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Bachelor of Arts in German, and Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University. Immediately prior to his academic appointment at the University of Rochester, Ben was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Harvard University.

Benjamin L. Miller, Ph.D.

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Martin Brusdeilins

In the course of a 30-year career, Brusdeilins held several executive management board positions covering R&D, Portfolio Management, Operations and worldwide Marketing at Tecan (Switzerland), Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics (Rochester, NY) and Roche Diagnostics (Indianapolis, IN, and Graz, Austria, as well as Mannheim, Germany). His work encompasses the fields of clinical diagnostics, immunodiagnostics, immunohematology, immunohistochemistry, molecular diagnostics, blood screening systems and point of care. Brusdeilins is a Member Industry Council to the School of Applied Chemistry at Reutlingen University, Germany, a Member of the Board of Directors of Toolpoint, Switzerland, a member of the Presidents Roundtable to the president of Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA and has served as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of MedTech in Upstate New York and as member of the Industrial Advisory Board to the University at Buffalo Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology (UB CAT) at the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.

Martin Brusdeilins

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Rick Ryan, Ph.D.

Rick has 30+ years experience in business management and new business/technology development in the life science industry. He has held executive leadership positions in multinational corporations as well as in early stage ventures. He retired from Millipore in December 2010 where he served as Vice President of the Drug Discovery and Development business unit from mid-2006 through 2010. Millipore was acquired by Merck KGaA in mid-2010 and Rick supported several aspects of the integration process with EMD and Serono. Prior to Millipore, Rick was the President of LINCO Research, a company focused on immunoassay kits and services for life science research. LINCO was a leader in the development of multiplex assays for the Luminex platform. Rick started his career in biotechnology/life science at Monsanto where he held several technology and business development positions of increasing responsibility, including Manager, R&D, Director of Commercial/Business Development, Director of Strategic Planning and Director of International Markets. Currently, Rich serves as CEO of Apertus Pharmaceuticals, a new venture focused on the manufacture of high potency API and controlled substances.

Rick received his Ph.D. (Biochemistry) from the University of Illinois and his executive MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. He was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin. He earned his B.S. in chemistry from Central College in Pella, IA.

Rick Ryan, Ph.D.

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Dean Simcoe

Dean Simcoe is an In Vitro Diagnostics executive heading the Business Development function for the Chemistry, Informatics and Automation business unit of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, a leading global IVD company. Dean has more than 20 years of business experience in the IVD industry and has held a broad range of executive roles including strategy, finance, general management, technology licensing, M&A and post-merger integration. Dan holds a BA from the University of Essex in the UK and holds a professional Chartered Certified Accountant qualification.

Dean Simcoe

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Dr. Andrew T. Jay

Dr. Andrew Jay is the Head of the HealthCare Fund at Siemens Venture Capital, which invests globally in imaging and diagnostic technologies. Since initiating the Fund in late 2002, his team has closed and exited multiple investments including BioImagene, Sequenom, USystems, and Zonare.

Dr. Jay previously was an I.I. ranked medical technology analyst for Deutsche Bank. He published over 10,000 pages of research on imaging, orthopedics, cardiovascular, vision, diabetes, diagnostics and neurologic devices. He was instrumental in raising over $2 billion in equity capital, and bringing over 20 companies public. He was frequently interviewed in the financial press including the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, CNN and MSNBC.

He has an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern, a DMD from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Outside of the office Andrew founded the Massachusetts Oyster Project, a non-profit that has re-introduced water cleansing oysters into Boston Harbor after an absence of 50 years. The organization can be found at www.massoyster.org

Dr. Andrew T. Jay

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