Company | Key Personnel
A Diversified, Experienced Management Team
Michael Seul, Ph.D. – CEO
Michael Seul has led the development of the Company’s BeadChip™ format of complex molecular analysis, and, over the past five years, in close interaction with the Company’s late Chairman, Dr Philip J Whitcome, developed and implemented a strategy of realizing the Company’s integrated BeadChip™ system addressing the practical needs of the diagnostics, drug development and medical research communities. Michael has attracted preeminent experts and biotechnology pioneers as Directors, advisors and collaborators. His expertise in biophysical chemistry and image analysis is reflected in the Company’s broad patent estate. Prior to establishing BioArray Solutions, Michael, during his decade-long tenure at AT&T Bell Laboratories, established an internationally recognized research program with a focus on the physical chemistry of interfaces, membranes and colloidal systems. He also coauthored, with two colleagues, a successful book on “Practical Algorithms for Image Analysis,” published by Cambridge University Press. Michael, as a Rotary Foundation Fellow, attended Stanford University where he received his Ph.D. in Biophysics.
R James (“Jim”) Danehy – President and COO
Jim Danehy brings to his role at BioArray Solutions a wealth of experience reflecting a career of 30+ years in multiple sales, marketing and general management capacities with leading medical device and diagnostic systems companies including: Ventana Medical Systems (VMSI) where, as President and CEO, he led the privately held, venture capital backed company from $4 million in annual sales and $12 million in annual expenditures to $25 million in annual sales and cash flow self-sufficiency in a three year period, successfully completing both an IPO and a Secondary Stock Offering; and Abbott Laboratories where, over a period of twenty years, from 1972 to 1993, he held multiple management positions including: Product Manager for Hepatitis Products; Marketing Manager for TDx Systems; Director of Marketing for the Diagnostics Division; and General Manager Blood Transfusion Diagnostics Business. Jim holds a B.S. in Chemistry from St. Joseph’s College and an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago.
Dian Beaubien – National Sales Manager
Ms. Beaubien, who joined the Company in January 2006, brings to her current role a broad range of experience in sales, marketing and management positions in the medical device and diagnostics industries. She has led multiple successful product launches at multiple companies including: Ventana Medical Systems (VMSI) where she held several positions over a period of six years of critical commercial success for the company (1995 to 2001) and, previously, Becton Dickinson Diagnostics, where she was a member of the molecular division that brought the ProbeTec product line to 70% marketing share. She began her sales career at Baxter selling the Sysmex Product Line with several strategic placements. Her career in sales followed ten years at Quest Diagnostics in management positions within the Hematology/Blood Bank Area. Ms Beaubien holds a BA in Biology from Oakland University, Rochester MI, an MT from Providence Hospital, Southfield MI and is certified in Hematology by ASCP.
Anthony L. (“Tony”) Hartman – Vice President, Research & Development
Tony Hartman has a wide range of experience with both the hardware and reagent side of diagnostic systems development. Most recently, at Ventana Medical Systems to which he returned in 2000 following an earlier tenure, Tony started the Molecular Discovery Systems (MDS) Division to develop and manufacture assay detection systems for the pharmaceutical research market, resulting - in 2004 – in $10 million in revenue with $2 million in profits. Previously, at Centicor Diagnostics of Pennsylvania, Tony served as Vice President of Research and Development and participated in the Company’s divestiture to Fujirebio Diagnostics. During his initial tenure at Ventana Medical Systems, spanning a period from the early start-up phase of the Company to its IPO in 1994, he served in a number of roles including: Director of Product Development, Director of Customer Support, Acting Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Research and Development. Tony holds a B.S in General Science from the University of Portland and a M.S. in Biophysics and Genetics from the University of Colorado. Prior to joining the private sector, Tony was a Research Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Chiu Chau – Vice President, Engineering
Mr. Chau is responsible for the Company’s engineering and system development programs. His extensive experience in optoelectronic and mechanical system design and development have enabled BioArray Solutions to integrate multifunctional assay development with semiconductor wafer and chip processing to implement a wafer-scale manufacturing process and to design and develop a complete assay delivery system that includes several tiers of control and application software. Prior to joining BAS in December 1998, over a period of twelve years, Mr. Chau served in project management roles with several leading optical instrumentation companies. He holds patents on the design of optical grating spectrometers and projection illumination systems as well as on LCD manufacturing. He was awarded a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong and an M.S. in Applied Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Eric Mirabel, Esq. – Vice President, Intellectual Property & Licensing
Mr. Mirabel is responsible for all matters relating to intellectual property including patents, transactions and related agreements. He has over twenty years of experience in the intellectual property field, mostly relating to biotechnology. Significantly, from 1990 to 2002 he served as Vice President of Intellectual Property at Tanox, Inc. a biotechnology company in Houston, Texas. Prior to joining Tanox, he was in the private practice of intellectual property law, working with Butler & Binion in Houston, Texas and Lyon & Lyon in Los Angeles. Mr. Mirabel holds an LL.M. in Patent & Trade Regulation law from the National Law Center at George Washington University and a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School. He holds a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver B.C. He has authored several articles on patent law and made a number of presentations on the subject.
Jiacheng (“JC”) Yang, Ph.D. – Director, Product Development
Dr. Yang is responsible for the development, validation of a suite of BeadChip™ kits for transplantation medicine and the development of novel assay designs for fragmentation of amplification products as well as for multiplexed enzyme analysis with applications to drug development. Dr. Yang brings to this role a wide range of expertise including the elaboration of molecular mechanisms of disease using DNA and protein array technology in clinical applications. Prior to joining BAS in September 2000, Dr. Yang was a research associate in the Department of Molecular Cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation where he used Affymetrix arrays to identify 19 genes with altered expression levels in end-stage heart failure patients. He received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Cleveland State University.
Ghazala Hashmi, Ph.D. – Director, Assay Development
Dr. Hashmi has been responsible for the development of a set of novel, multiplexed BeadChip™ assays for transfusion antigen genotyping and for inherited disease carrier screening. Dr Hashmi was the principal author of a publication introducing the BeadChip™ format to large-scale genotyping of transfusion donors which was selected for the cover of the May 2005 issue of “Transfusion”, the official organ of the American Association of Blood Banks. Dr. Hashmi has extensive experience in several areas of molecular genetics and clinical research. Prior to joining BAS in August 2000, she was investigating gene expression in patients with cardiovascular and neurological diseases and, as a research scientist at Brookdale University Hospital, investigated gene expression profiles in bone marrow fibroblasts and peripheral blood cells as well as the regulation of hematological disorders. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and completed a postdoctoral appointment at Rutgers University.
