The Founding Team
Scott F. Sneddon, Ph.D., J.D. CEO/CSO
Scott holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry & Biophysics from Carnegie-Mellon University, a J.D. from Columbia University Law School and has over 30 years experience in drug discovery, having held leadership positions at Pfizer and Genzyme. At Pfizer Dr. Sneddon was a member of the New Leads Discovery group under Fred Vinick. He then went to Genzyme with Fred to help establish Genzyme's small molecule drug discovery program. There he led the Assay Development and High Throughput Screening group and was a pioneer in implementing high-throughput functional cellular assays for primary drug screening (before such a thing was fashionable). He has worked as an attorney handling venture financing, licensing and ongoing strategic operation for startup and growth-phase companies in the biotechnology sector. He is also a registered patent attorney licensed to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Marcel Bruchez, Ph.D. (1973-2022) Scientific Co-Founder & CTO
Marcel P. Bruchez was a recognized leader in developing and commercializing research tools for bionanotechnology - an emerging field that creates or adapts materials and chemical processes to solve biological problems. As a graduate student, he modified quantum dots - nanometer-sized crystal particles - so that they could be used to tag proteins and label cells. Based on this work, he founded Quantum Dot Corporation to develop and commercialize quantum dots for biological applications. In 2005, Quantum Dot was purchased by Invitrogen Corporation, and Bruchez joined the Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center as Program Manager for the National Technology Center for Networks and Pathways at Carnegie Mellon University. Research in his lab was focused on optical tools for detection of complex biological processes, work the company continues to benefit from. These tools were all designed to investigate biological changes, in real-time, as they occur in living cells and animals, a true innovation.
Alan Waggoner, Ph.D. Scientific Co-Founder & Chief Architect
Dr. Waggoner's research has focused on development of fluorescence-based detection systems for biology and biotechnology. The cyanine dye fluorescent labeling reagents developed in his laboratory have become widely used in industry and academic research for multicolor analysis of proteins, nucleic acids, cells and tissues with imaging microscopes and flow cytometers. Dr. Waggoner lead the Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center in the development of the microbiosensors for studying protein regulatory processes in living cells and tissues that make up one of the key technologies for Sharp. The Center also has a NASA project for detecting sparse microorganisms in extreme environments.