Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. John "Jan" Hall, 2005 Physics Nobel Laureate. Dr Hall has earned a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Physics from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. In 2005 Dr. Hall received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique, in addition to numerous other physics awards. He has authored more than 230 articles in refereed journals, and holds ten U.S. patents. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and the American Physical Society. He is also a Senior Fellow Emeritus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and a Fellow Adjoint of JILA CU. Dr. Hall has trained numerous graduate students and post docs in the Physics Department at the University of Colorado , Boulder. He retired from NIST in November, 2004 after spending 45 years of his life there, but is still active in JILA and his consulting company (Hall Stable Lasers, LLC). He has been awarded more than 20 professional, peer-generated honors including U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medals, Presidential Rank Award, Charles Hard Townes Award of the Optical Society of America (joint with V. P. Chebotayev), Arthur L. Shawlow Prize of the American Physical Society, Max Born Award of the Optical Society of America. In 2004, he received the IEEE Rabi Award and became a member of the French Légion d'Honneur.

Mr. William Carson, is a Founder & Sr.VP Applications Engineering of Spectra Analysis Inc. He has over 20 years experience in scientific and bio-tech instrumentation, membrane and chromatographic separation processes, mass spectroscopy, electrophoresis, MEMS and nanotechnology. As Vice President of Research & Development at Ionics, Inc.; PerSeptive BioSystems, Millipore Corporation; and Waters Associates; he has demonstrated an ability to assimilate new market needs and translate them into business opportunities. Over $1 billion revenue has been generated on products covered by Mr. Carson’s 19 issued US patents and over 75 corresponding patents. He was an Acting Assistant Professor at Cornell University. Mr. Carson earned his BS & MS in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Marvin Caruthers is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In the early 1980's, Professor Caruthers laid the foundation for the development of automated gene synthesizers, used by researchers for chromosome mapping, DNA sequencing, and the diagnosis of diseases and genetic disorders. He was most instrumental in the development of technologies that have led to the emergence of such notable companies as Amgen and Applied Biosystems. Professor Caruthers has served on the boards of a number of biotechnology companies and currently sits on the Board of Directors of Array Biopharma and Barofold Inc, Colorado biotechnology companies. He holds twenty U.S. patents and his laboratory continues to develop new chemistries for synthesizing biological molecules and exploring their uses.

Dr. Ted Haensch, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, was a recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics. He has authored or co-authored more than 400 papers, focusing on coherent nonlinear interactions between light and matter. Dr. Haensch is known for his seminal contributions in the field of laser spectroscopy. His early work includes the first narrowband tunable dye laser, the invention of commonly used techniques of Doppler-free laser spectroscopy, and the first proposal for laser cooling of atomic gases. Professor Haensch is a member of the German Physical Society, and the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Lasertechnik e.V. (WLT). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the Franklin Institute, and the Laser Institute of America. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Science, and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. In 2001, he became co-founder and Member of the Board of Menlo Systems GmbH.

Dr. Phil McMahon. Dr McMahon received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry with a minor in Physics from North Dakota State University. He worked at Abbott Laboratories in the early 1980's and later became Director of Research and Development at Idexx Laboratories. In the early 1990's, he joined Amgen, Inc., following which he became Director of Manufacturing and later Vice President of Operations at BioStar, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado.

Dr. Nikos Pagratis earned his Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from the University of Chicago. He most recently served as Director of Research and Technology for Drug Discovery at Myogen, Inc., (now Gilead). Before joining Myogen Dr Pagratis was a lead researcher at NeXstar Pharmaceuticals Inc., working primarily on drug discovery. He has over 15 years of industry experience in drug discovery, 20 years hands-on experience in molecular biology and molecular genetics, as well as extensive experience in cell biology and enzyme biochemistry. Dr. Pagratis has also had significant responsibility for management of scientific and technology development projects. He has been the principal investigator on numerous SBIR awards and is credited with over 30 patents.

Dr. Robert Thompson received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of Exeter, United Kingdom. After post-doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School, he joined the Faculty of Temple University. He subsequently joined Synergen Inc. where he served as Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Executive Vice President and was responsible for human pharmaceuticals, research, and clinical affairs. Dr. Thompson is currently a researcher at the department of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications in leading biological journals.