Board of Advisors
Dr. Jon Vaught
Board Advisor
Dr. Jonathan Vaught is CEO and Founder of Front Range Biosciences™. Previously, he was Director of Assay Development at Velocity Sciences, an IP development company that creates next generation assay technologies for diagnostic applications. He also served as a Senior Product Development Scientist at Beacon Biotechnology, where he led the development of a foodborne pathogen detection platform. Prior to Beacon, Dr. Vaught spent 5 years as a scientist at Somalogic where he helped build and optimize the SOMAscan assay, the world’s largest proteomic based biomarker discovery assay that measures 1000’s of proteins in a single sample.
He brings together a diverse background with expertise in organic synthesis, biochemistry, assay development, proteomics, and analytical chemistry. He is an inventor on two patents and an author on 7 publications in peer reviewed journals. Dr. Vaught received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his BS in chemistry from North Carolina State University.
Nick Hofmeister
Board Advisor
Nick Hofmeister is the Founder and COO of Front Range Biosciences™. Previously, he was the VP of Strategy for Divergent Technologies, which uses 3D metal printing to create light weight, environmentally friendly, flexible complex structures like car chassis. Mr. Hofmeister was a Founder and Director of Operations at Triton Algae Innovations, a biotechnology licensing company, and the Chief of Staff for Sapphire Energy. Prior to Sapphire, Mr. Hofmeister was a management consultant at Bain & Company focused on private equity and a program manager at Microsoft.
Mr. Hofmeister has founded 5 technology startups and raised more than $270 million from public and private sources. He has a BS from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Michael Dovbish
Board Advisor
Mike Dovbish serves as Executive Director of Nutrition Capital Network (NCN) providing strategic guidance and preparing participating companies for NCN Investor Conferences. Since NCN’s inception in 2007, Mike has worked with presenting companies on their business plans, pitch presentations and overall strategy to best position them for growth and investment. He also identifies and introduces potential investors and strategic partners to companies before, during and after the investor meetings.
Mike also serves as a mentor, advisor and consultant to healthy lifestyle and sustainable businesses both in consumer packaged goods and related technology companies. He has worked with entrepreneurs on their business strategy, capital raising, market opportunity assessment, value proposition and partnership development. He received a BA degree in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine and an MBA from Boston University.
REGGIE GAUDINO, Ph.D.
Board Advisor
Dr. Reggie Gaudino oversees all scientific research and development for Steep Hill Labs and manages the YnsightTM genetics division. The research from Dr. Gaudino has been peer-reviewed and published, leading to important new discoveries. He is internationally recognized as a leader in genetics science. Dr. Gaudino is a Scientific Advisor for partner company, PathogenDx, where he helps identify and commercialize DNA based testing opportunities. Dr. Gaudino and Steep Hill act as the partner laboratory for PathogenDx product development and validation testing.
Dr. Gaudino received his B.S. in Molecular Biology and Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and he conducted four years of post-doctoral research at the Washington University in St. Louis, studying transcriptional regulation of rRNA. Reggie was one of the first African-American molecular biologists to enter a Ph.D. program in the United States in 1985.
Carl Yamashiro, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Katchman leads the research and development of sample preparation and assay development at PathogenDx, a Scottsdale, AZ based company which provides disruptive DNA-based pathogen testing technology and solutions for the botanical, food and agricultural industries.
Previously, Dr. Katchman spent 20 years working with various universities and small companies developing novel nucleic acid and proteomic approaches for biomarker discovery and molecular diagnostics.
This includes the development of plate-based and microarray-based diagnostic systems for use in clinical laboratories and point-of-care diagnostics for Arizona State University, FlexBioTech, Inc., and Eccrine Systems, Inc.
Prior to joining PathogenDx, Dr. Katchman was a Principle Investigator at Eccrine Systems, Inc. where he led all clinical research, regulatory pathway implementation, assay development, and biomarker studies. He was the co-founder of FlexBioTech, Inc., where he led the development of novel OLED-based molecular diagnostic assay platforms.
Dr. Katchman received a B.S. in Microbiology, from Indiana University in 2005, then carried out graduate research with Prof. Douglas F Lake at Arizona State University where he was the first to identify QSOX1 as a proto-oncogene and novel tumor biomarker resulting in over $2M in funding and multiple patents. He performed his postdoctoral research with Prof. Karen S Anderson and Prof. Joshua LaBaer where he designed novel high-density protein microarrays and novel clinical and point of care diagnostics utilizing flexible OLED based electronics resulting in over $15M in funding, multiple patents and high-impact publications.
NEAL PATEL
Principal Tendaji Ventures
Neal Patel is a healthcare and biotechnology entrepreneur in the Pharmaceutical marketplace. Patel founded his first clinical diagnostics company at the age of 23 years old. Armed with a passion for enhancing the accessibility to healthcare for disparate communities, Patel later launched a private R&D Laboratory, responsible for engineering disruptive, cost-effective diagnostic tests. In 2017, Patel began establishing a stronghold for himself in the Pharmaceutical industry when he founded a private research entity that focuses on taking non-FDA Approved medications to market.
