908 Devices Increases Focus on Biotherapeutics with Expansion of Scientific Advisory Board

May 07, 2021 at 07:00 AM EDT

Company Appoints Six New Members to its Scientific Advisory Board

908 Devices (NASDAQ: MASS), a pioneer of purpose-built handheld and desktop mass spec devices for chemical and biomolecular analysis, today announced the forthcoming appointment of six new individuals to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), including Professor Michael Betenbaugh, Dr. Tim Charlebois, Dr. Elena Chernokalskaya, Dr. John Erickson, Professor Krishnedndu Roy and Dr. Gene Schaefer. The new SAB members join the board’s co-chairs Christopher D. Brown, CTO of 908 Devices, and J. Michael Ramsey, Scientific Founder of 908 Devices and Professor at UNC Chapel Hill.

“We are honored to be welcoming Michael, Tim, Elena, John, Krishnedndu and Eugene to our Scientific Advisory Board,” said Dr. Christopher D. Brown, CTO and co-founder of 908 Devices. “Their expertise and deep knowledge of the space of bioprocess development/optimization, and cell and gene therapy processes/production will be invaluable in helping us achieve our long-term goals for expansion of the Rebel and ZipChip ecosystems.”

908 Devices intends to create a bioanalytics platform leveraging its versatile technologies including the REBEL to support users from biotherapeutic development through production. The expansion of its Scientific Advisory Board is a key step in supporting this goal. This newly formed bioprocessing and biotherapeutics panel of world-renowned industry leaders spans academic leaders at the forefront of CGT and bioprocess optimization, to seasoned industry leaders in process development, scale up and production. The depth and breadth of this panel will be instrumental in providing feedback and guidance on the company’s near- and long-term technology roadmap.

The roster of new Scientific Advisory Board members includes:

Michael Betenbaugh, Ph.D.: Michael is a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins University and the lead PI of the nationally recognized Advanced Mammalian Biomanufacturing Innovation Center (AMBIC). He is one of the pioneers of eukaryotic metabolic engineering, and a world-renowned expert in CHO bioprocess optimization, metabolism and glycoengineering.
Tim Charlebois, Ph.D: Tim will be joining the SAB in June following his retirement after a 30-year career in biopharmaceutical development at Pfizer, most recently, and legacy companies Wyeth and Genetics Institute. As VP of Technology & Innovation at Pfizer, he has been responsible for technology strategy and platform development across bioprocess, analytical, formulation and delivery for the biologics and large molecule portfolio, as well as in-licensing and out-licensing due diligence and intellectual property support.
Elena Chernokalskaya, Ph.D.: Elena brings over 20 years of industrial R&D leadership in biopharma, CRO and device manufacturing companies. In her most recent role as an Executive, Upstream Bioprocess R&D at GE Life Sciences, Elena was responsible for the development of Xcellerex bioreactors and mixers, hollow fiber filters and HyClone cell culture media. She also led the development and launch of the first GE single-use platform film, Fortem.
John Erickson, Ph.D.: John is the Acting Chief Technology Officer at The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), and was previously VP of Biopharmaceutical and Sterile Manufacturing Science & Technology at GSK. John brings over 30 years of experience in biopharmaceutical process development, clinical trial supply and commercial manufacturing.
Krishnedndu Roy, Ph.D.: Krish is a Professor and Robert A. Milton Endowed Chair in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech, and is a world-leader in the area of cell manufacturing and biotherapeutics delivery. He serves as the Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies and The Marcus Center for Cell-Therapy Characterization and Manufacturing, as well as the Director of the Center for ImmunoEngineering.
Eugene Schaefer, Sc.D.: Gene has held a wide variety of roles in the biopharmaceutical industry over his distinguished career in the last 36 years. Most recently he was Senior Director, API Large Molecule BioTherapeutics Development at Janssen (J&J). Prior to joining Janssen in 2008, Dr. Schaefer held senior positions in process development and manufacturing of therapeutic proteins and gene therapy vectors at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Schering Plough, and Genzyme.

To learn more, visit www.908Devices.com.

About 908 Devices

908 Devices (NASDAQ: MASS) is democratizing laboratory mass spectrometry with its simple handheld and desktop devices, addressing critical-to-life applications. The Company’s devices are used at the point-of-need to interrogate unknown and invisible materials and provide quick, actionable answers to directly address some of the most critical problems in life sciences research, bioprocessing, pharma / biopharma, forensics and adjacent markets. The Company is headquartered in the heart of Boston, where it designs and manufactures innovative products that bring together the power of mass spectrometry, microfluidic separations, software automation, and machine learning.