Professor Emeritus, Genetics and Genomics, University of Connecticut
Vice President for Publications, Board of Directors, National Professional Science Master’s Association
Workforce Advisory Council, National Professional Science Master’s Association
Linda Strausbaugh’s broad research interests focus on the commensal and pathogenic fungi in the human oral cavity and other biocompartments. Areas of concentration include identification of taxa by metagenomic methods, nomenclature, and inferences of functional roles. She also participates in national initiatives to build a STEM workforce at the graduate level.
Workforce Advisory Council, National Professional Science Master’s AssociationTodd E. Arnold, Ph.D. is a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Adela, Incorporated, an early-stage company focused on commercializing technology capable of detecting cancer and other high-morbidity, high-mortality conditions through a blood test that harnesses the potential of the methylome. Adela’s genome-wide methylation enrichment technology offers the potential to detect many diseases with a single assay. Immediately prior to joining Adela, Dr. Arnold served as the Chief Laboratory Operations Officer for Sema4, a spinout company of the Mount Sinai Health System. Preceding his role at Sema4, he was the Managing Director of the Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory—Connecticut and spearheaded the establishment of the state-of-the-art, high throughput nucleic acid sequencing facility.
Previously, Dr. Arnold was the Vice President of Research and Development at 454 Life Sciences, a Roche Company, where he and his team developed next-generation sequencing instruments, reagents, assays, and software. He earned his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Indiana University, his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Georgia, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. He has supported early-stage bioscience companies in Connecticut as a scientific advisor.
As an active participant in curriculum development at colleges and universities and an advocate for bioscience in Connecticut, Dr. Arnold serves on the Workforce Advisory Board for the Professional Science Master's Health Care Genetics Graduate Program at the University of Connecticut, BioPath: the Bioscience Career and Academic Pathway (a partnership between the City of New Haven and Southern Connecticut State University) Advisory Board, the New Haven Regional Bioscience Collaborative, the Workforce Advisory Board of the National Professional Science Master’s Association, and as Chairman of the Graduate Education Advisory Board at the University of Georgia. He is a member of CBIA’s Connecticut Bioscience Growth Council and the Connecticut Health Data Collaborative. He served as a member of the BioCT (the bioscience industry’s voice in the state of Connecticut) Board of Directors and Government Affairs Committee.
Director, Histocompatibility and Immune Evaluation Laboratory, Yale University School of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Surgery (Transplant), Yale University School of Medicine
Laurine Bow received her PhD degree in Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of Connecticut in 1991. She has held faculty positions at the University of Connecticut, and is currently Assistant Professor of Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. She is currently the Director of the Histocompatibility and Immune Evaluation Laboratory at Yale, and has also held this position at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York and Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT. While at Hartford Hospital she held the position of Vice President for Research from 2007 to 2012, and has maintained directorship of the Transplant Immunology Laboratory at that institution since 1991. Laurine has authored or co-authored over 35 publications in the field of organ transplantation, with particular focus on transplant immunology and histocompatibility, and has had many presentations at scientific meetings including ASHI, AST and the International Transplant Society (TTS). As several new assays involving antibody detection have recently been developed in the field, her key interest has been in evaluating how these data are best able to inform potential for organ transplant antibody mediated rejection, and improve outcomes for transplant recipients.
Genomics Software FAS Manager, Agilent Technologies
Elizabeth Ewen, Ph.D. earned her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at Boston University. Prior to working at Agilent Technologies, Dr. Ewen was a Field Application Scientist at Cartagenia in Cambridge, MA as well as a Research and Developmental Scientist at Cellay, Inc. also in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Ewen's top stills are in cytogenetics, molecular cytogenetics and gene targeting.
Professor, Department of Allied Health Services, University of Connecticut
Dr. Lawrence Silbart is a Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences and has held leadership positions within UConn including Department Head and Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives. He was trained in the fields of Toxicology and Occupational Health with early research studying metabolic activation of chemical carcinogens. More recently, his research has focused on immunology and vaccine science, especially mucosal vaccines and adjuvants for infectious diseases, with current research projects focusing on cancer immunotherapy. He teaches AH 3175 (Environmental Health) each year and participates in teaching a graduate level course on vaccines in addition to many guest lectures. He and his research team have published well over 50 papers and book chapters in high-impact, peer-reviewed scientific journals including Science, Vaccine, and Infection and Immunity among others. His research has been funded with more than $6 million in extramural funding from USDA, NIH, CDC-ATSDR, US-EDA, and other organizations.
Clinical Analyst, Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine
Cara Statz, Ph.D. earned her Ph.D. in Genetics and Genomics at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. Dr. Statz has been an adjunct faculty at Gateway Community College and the University of Connecticut. Prior to joining The Jackson Laboratory, she worked as a Clinical Research Associate at Hartford Hospital. Her top skills include clinical research, immunology and molecular biology.
Director, Clinical Genomics and Advanced Technology (CGAT), Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine
Vice President, Molecular Sciences, Abcam
Having founded more than 4 biotech companies, Dr. Weiner is a serial scientist-entrepreneur. He has invented and/or helped to develop commonly used molecular biology tools and technologies, including the first to sequence M.BamHI, the QuikChange Mutagenesis kit, DNA bar-coding of Luminex beads, Emulsion PCR, Digital PCR, microfluidic droplet labeling, and the first commercial Next Generation DNA sequencing instrument. His more recent work has focused on proteomics, antibody discovery, and antibody engineering.
Dr. Weiner, was selected as the recipient of CiteAb’s 2019 Lifetime achievement award and the Entrepreneur of the Year (2016) for Connecticut by CURE (CURE is Connecticut's Bioscience Innovation Network).
Moreover, Dr. Weiner has contributed time, energy, and resources to training and mentoring numerous bioscience and biobusiness professionals who are currently enriching the Connecticut bioscience cluster.