THURSDAY, AUGUST 23
DINNER, 6:30 - 9:00 PM
Microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip Devices for POCT: Technologies and Commercialization

Chris Myatt, Founder & CEO, MBio Diagnostics, Inc

Marta Fernandez Suarez, Daktari Diagnostics & FIND

Kris Buchanan, CEO, Phase Three Product Development

Evan F Cromwell, President & CEO, Protein Fluidics

Arlington

ABOUT THIS COURSE:

This short course will provide an overview of microfluidic techniques, including valved and valve-less devices, pumped systems, and capillary flow approaches. Practical examples will keep the discussion grounded in the realization of commercializable devices. We will discuss engineering approaches to enhance the advantages and minimize the challenges. Throughout, the science will be linked to the commercial case for these devices, including a full discussion of a recent success story of a centrifugal microfluidic molecular assay system.

• Kris Buchanan, CEO, Phase Three Product Development (30 min) A presentation of the practical design considerations for microfluidic devices, from a design engineering perspective. We will discuss advantages and challenges of microfluidic devices: what works, and does not work, in the practical realization of devices and systems.
• Evan F Cromwell, President & CEO, Protein Fluidics (45 min) Overview of microfluidic fluid control using valved and “valve-less” technologies, along with pump approaches, including pneumatic pumps. Results from system integration into a multiwell plate format to automate running samples will be discussed.
• Chris Myatt, Founder & CEO, MBio Diagnostics, Inc. (30 min) A presentation of pure capillary flow approaches, and the subtleties that impact the use of this approach. The impacts on sensitivity and reproducibility will be discussed.
• Marta Fernandez Suarez, Daktari Diagnostics & FIND (45 min) Challenges and opportunities for innovation in the integration of microfluidic technologies into sample-to-answer diagnostic systems. We will describe specific examples of how close integration of the microfluidics disposable, wet and dry reagents, sensing elements, and the reader result in a functioning product, amenable to commercialization.

INSTRUCTORS:

Kris Buchanan, CEO, Phase Three Product Development

Kris Buchanan is owner and CEO of Phase Three Product Development which was founded in 2009. He has driven the development of many products while holding numerous engineering and product development positions in companies which produce products from consumer electronics to medical devices. Mr. Buchanan has been awarded over 75 USPTO and international patents as inventor or co-inventor. These patents range from air filtration and spin motor design in the disc drive industry to bio containment, nozzle and flow cell designs for flow cytometry to patents in the microfluidics field. More recently, Mr. Buchanan has helped researchers develop designs and systems which allow “organ-on-chip” technologies to be developed and to prepare them for commercialization while also developing lab-on-a-chip technologies for continuous cell sorting. Phase Three has been instrumental in preparing microfluidics products for integration in water quality and food safety applications soon to launch in the marketplace covering the cellular therapy, RNA detection, cellular analysis, protein detection fields, and IVD fields. Surrounding Mr. Buchanan at Phase Three is a team of experts hand-picked for their areas of expertise covering industrial and human factors design, assay development, electrical and mechanical engineering, fluidics engineering and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), software, and systems engineering. This integrated approach has allowed Phase Three to develop instrumentation systems, disposables, and technologies in the IVD, life science, water and food quality fields.

Evan F Cromwell, President & CEO, Protein Fluidics.

Evan is the founder, President and CEO of Protein Fluidics, Inc. Protein Fluidics provides protein analysis and immunoassay systems using microfluidics to accelerate data driven decisions in the laboratory. He has over 30 years of senior executive and technical expertise in numerous hi-tech industries including hard disk drive, semiconductor, telecom, and biotechnology. He has been involved in all phases of the design, development, and manufacture of systems for biological assays, materials analysis, optical inspection, and process control. Prior to Protein Fluidic, Evan served as the President and CEO of Blueshift Biotechnologies, a high-content screening and analysis venture that was acquired by Molecular Devices, a Danaher company, in 2008. At Molecular Devices, Evan led global technology development initiatives for novel Life Sciences products, directed an assay development group, and chaired the company’s scientific advisory board. Evan’s passion is integrating new technologies into products that provide unexpected value to customers in life sciences and other communities. Evan holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Caltech and earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He has authored 40+ publications in the fields of biology, physical chemistry, and optical instrumentation and holds 16 patents.

Marta Fernandez Suarez, Daktari Diagnostics & FIND

Marta Fernandez Suarez is a life sciences R&D leader working at the intersection of science and engineering, specializing in the development of laboratory and point-of-care in vitro diagnostic systems. Marta has more than 10 years of experience in assay and microfluidics product development, both in academia and in industry, and has led teams through the entire product development process. Most recently, Marta served as the VP of Assay R&D at Daktari Diagnostics. She is an inventor in several patents and her work has been published in high-impact journals. She also serves in expert panels and review boards for federal agencies and foundations. Marta is passionate about improving health around the world and has more than 15 years of experience in the design and on-the-ground implementation of international development projects in Africa and Central and South America. Marta obtained her B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Institut Quimic de Sarria (Barcelona, Spain) and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Chris Myatt, Founder & CEO, MBio Diagnostics, Inc.

Dr. Myatt is the founder and CEO of MBio Diagnostics, Inc. He is an entrepreneur with a proven track record for building technology companies, securing patents and licensing technology, raising funding, establishing commercial operations, and leading through growth. Prior to MBio Diagnostics, Chris successfully founded and led Precision Photonics Corporation, a successful laser and optical technology supplier that is now a division of IDEX. Trained as a physicist and measurement scientist, Chris invented and developed multiple technologies that formed the basis of his companies. He earned a B.S. in Physics and a B.A. in Mathematics at Southern Methodist University. Chris also earned a Ph.D. in Atomic Physics at the University of Colorado. He studied Bose-Einstein Condensation under Carl Wieman (Nobel Prize, 2001), helping to create the first BEC condensate in the Wieman lab. He also studied quantum information under David Wineland (Nobel Prize, 2012) as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder.