Technical Advisory Board
A Leadership Team with Deep Experience
Andrew Zydney
Chair
Bayard D. Kunkle Chair and Professor of Chemical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University
Andrew Zydney
Chair
Dr. Andrew L. Zydney is the Bayard D. Kunkle Chair and Professor of Chemical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. He also serves as Director of the Penn State site in the Membrane Science, Engineering, and Technology (MAST) Center. Dr Zydney was Head of the Chemical Engineering Department from 2004-2014, and he was the founding Director of the Penn State Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology from 2017-2021. Professor Zydney’s research is focused on the application of membranes in bioprocessing, including the purification of monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, and gene therapy agents with more than 300 publications in these areas. Dr. Zydney served as Editor-in Chief of the Journal of Membrane Science from 2010 2019, and he is Past President of the North American Membrane Society (NAMS). He is the most recent recipient of the Alan S. Michaels Award for Innovation in Membrane Science and Technology, and he has previously received the American Chemical Society (ACS) Award in Separations Science and Technology, the Gerhold Award for Excellence in Separation Science, and the Excellence in Biological Engineering Publications award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Professor Zydney has also received multiple teaching awards, including the Warren K. Lewis Award from AIChE, the Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Delaware, and the Distinguished Teacher Award from the American Society for Engineering Education.
Meisam Bakhshayeshi
Technical Advisory Board
Meisam Bakhshayeshi
Technical Advisory Board
Meisam is a technical development and CMC leader with over 12 years of experience in process development and manufacturing across multiple therapeutic modalities, including AAV viral vectors, plasmid DNA, C3DNA, protein biologics, and lipid nanoparticles. He was most recently Sr Director of CMC at Intergalactic Therapeutics, where he led the process development, analytical development, and manufacturing activities for C3DNA Drug Substance and Drug Product. Prior to Intergalactic, Meisam led process development for AAV, plasmid DNA, and lipid nanoparticles at Tessera Therapeutics. Prior to Tessera, he spent 10 years at Biogen in process development roles of increasing scope and responsibilities, including Head of Downstream Process Development for gene therapy and CMC Technical Development Lead for early- and late-stage gene therapy programs. Meisam holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Penn State and a M.S and B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology.
Rajiv Datar, Ph.D.
President & CEO
Alfa-Laval/Kabi/Pharmacia, Genentech, Pall Chemical & Biochemical Engineering Post-Doc/Doc MIT/KTH; MIT EDP ‘23
Rajiv Datar, Ph.D.
President & CEO
Dr. Datar obtained his Post-Doctorate in Biochemical Engineering from MIT, Cambridge, MA and his Ph.D. in Bioprocess Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Datar is an experienced Biotechnology and Bio-Business Professional, of which the first ten years were at Senior Technical Positions covering R&D, technical and financial collaborations either in European or US multinational companies, and four years in independent biotech research based on US SBIR grants. During the past ten years, he has been in Senior Management Positions either as VP, Head of SBU, Founding-CEO or CEO of publicly-traded or startup biotech companies and ventures, where Dr. Datar has had full responsibility for projects, budgets, technology deals and biotech start-ups ranging in size from $15 million to $40 million. Dr. Datar has successfully raised about $40 million for biotech startups over the past 10 years.
Neal Gordon
Technical Advisory Board
Neal Gordon
Technical Advisory Board
Dr. Gordon was most recently a Managing Director in the BioProcess Technology Group at BDO USA, where he managed a client project portfolio of $5M+. Neal has over 30 years of experience in the Boston-area life science industry, as a hands-on leader with a strong record of technology innovation and translation of platform technologies into products. Neal has been closely aligned with Flagship Pioneering (formerly Flagship Ventures) beginning with PerSeptive Biosystems, where he was part of the founding technology team, and ending at Cobalt Biomedicine as Chief Development Officer. As an accomplished biotech executive and entrepreneur, he has been involved with a variety of companies pioneering novel, first-in-class therapeutic strategies and analysis platforms. These experiences provided valuable background not only in translation of scientific platforms into specific products but importantly in development of manufacturing, product characterization and lot release paradigms that accommodate existing and help formulate new regulation. Neal has a strong background in development of protein therapeutics and is s a subject matter expert in development of process and analytical development with significant exposure to the emerging fields of cell and gene therapy. Neal obtained his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from McGill University.
Jerry Martin
Technical Advisory Board
Independent Consultant
Jerry Martin
Technical Advisory Board
Jerry Martin is an independent consultant focusing on single-use technologies, bio- and aseptic processing, filtration and microbiology. He was previously Sr. V.P. Marketing and Global Scientific Affairs for Pall Life Sciences (now part of Cytiva) and Chairman of the BioProcess Systems Alliance (BPSA) trade association, where he spearheaded development of best practice guides for implementation of single-use systems in GMP bioprocessing. In addition to BPSA, he has contributed to bioprocessing standards for PDA, USP, ISO, ASTM and ASME. In 2012, he was named Thought Leader of the Decade in Manufacturing by BioProcess International Magazine for his efforts championing the transformation of the biopharmaceutical industry to single-use. He holds an MSc in Environmental Microbiology from University of Toronto.
Thomas Ransohoff, M.S.
Technical Advisory Board
Principal, RTI Consulting, LLC
Thomas Ransohoff, M.S.
Technical Advisory Board
Thomas Ransohoff, M.S., has over 35 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry with broad experience in the development and manufacture of biologics and in the management of technology-based start-up firms. He is currently Principal, RTI Consulting, LLC, providing strategic and advisory consulting services to life sciences firms. Previously, Mr. Ransohoff was Technical Head, Biologics Franchise for National Resilience, Inc. who he joined through the acquisition of 4 th Dimension Bioprocess, where he was a co-founder and COO. Before joining Resilience, Mr. Ransohoff was a Managing Director at BDO and its precursor BioProcess Technology Consultants (BPTC), a leading CMC consulting firm that he helped build over a 20 year period. Prior to that, he held senior level positions at TranXenoGen, Dyax, Repligen, and Xoma. Mr. Ransohoff is a co-founder of several successful start-ups, including 4 th Dimension Bioprocess, Tarpon Biosystems and BioFlash Partners. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from MIT and a Master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, both in Chemical Engineering.
Oleg Shinkazh
Founder & CTO
Millipore, Pall, Genentech, Biogen Chemical & Biotechnology Engineering, MIT EDP ‘23
Oleg Shinkazh
Founder & CTO
Oleg Shinkazh is a founder of ChromaTan and inventor of “Countercurrent Tangential Chromatography.” He is a chemical and biotechnology engineer with 17 years of experience in R&D and technical support in the biotechnology industry, specializing in downstream processing/purification of human biologics. Oleg has extensive experience with all unit operations in the modern marketplace and has worked and collaborated with such industry leaders as Millipore Corp., Pall Corp., Genentech, Biogen and many others.
