Professional Staff

Our highly-trained staff includes:

Director
Dr. Mani Subramanian holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1978). Prior to joining the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing in October of 2005, Mani was the Global R&D Director of Biotechnology, Bioprocessing and Bioinformatics at the Dow Chemical Company. He brings more than 25 years of biotechnology R&D experience in the areas of industrial, plant and pharmaceutical technology. His interests range from microbiological genomics to biocatalysis, fermentation and process development.

Associate Director
Michael Louie holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology (1998). Michael has extensive experience with genetic and pathway engineering of microorganisms for producting proteins and small molecules. He has been Associate Director at the CBB since 2007.

Director of Operations
Marvin Scher holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (1962) and has extensive and diverse experience in industry, biotechnology consulting, and teaching. He has been with the CBB since 1996.

Technical Director
Milind Deshpande holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology (1992) and has extensive experience growing organisms, scaling up from the bench and purifying products. He has been with CBB since 1995.

Assistant Research Scientist
Sridhar Gopishetty holds a Ph.D. in Bio-Organic Chemistry (2000) and has
extensive experience in biotransformations and synthetic organic chemistry. He
has been with CBB since 2004.

Quality Assurance Manager
Gwenda Jarosh received a B.S. in Chemistry from The University of Iowa in 1981 and has graduate work in microbiology and biochemistry. She has more than 20 years of cGMP experience in the food and drug industries. Her experience includes roles as operator, trainer, quality assurance manager, manufacturing supervisor, and facility manager, while manufacturing Phase I and Phase II clinical trial materials. Gwen joined CBB in January 2005.

Research Investigator
Shuvendu Das holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry (2004) and has extensive experience in microbiology, enzymology, biochemistry, biocatalysis, organic synthesis, and molecular biology. He joined the CBB in 2006.

Larry Dostal received a B.A. from The University of Iowa in Food and Nutrition. He has 15 years experience as a technician and 12 years of downstream processing and analytical experience, concentrating on HPLC, TLC and GC.

Jody Ehler started her professional career as a fermentation operator with Solvay Animal Health in 1976. She has been with the CBB since 1995. She uses her wide-ranging experience as laboratory coordinator and has been instrumental in training staff.

Kevin Erpelding  has a B.S. from The University of Iowa and has been with CBB since 2004. He has experience with computers and outstanding mechanical aptitude. Kevin has experience with most of the GLP and GMP equipment.

Mary Gill has a B.L.S. from Iowa State (2003). She had lab tech experience before joining the CBB staff in 2003. At CBB, she has wide ranging experience with downstream processing and GMP quality systems.

Russell Hamilton earned a B.S. in Biology from Mount Mercy College in 2005. Russ has worked with CBB since 2007 in the areas of fermentation and in-process and final product analyses.

Alyssa Langerud worked as an undergraduate helping in the lab and completed a B.S. from The University of Iowa in 2007. Alyssa is currently part of the GMP processing team.

Deanna Lettington has a B.S. in Animal Science from Iowa State and more than 15 years of biotechnology and microbiology lab experience. This includes quality assurance work, fermentation, and purification, both GLP and GMP.

Wensheng Liu has an extensive background in analytical chemistry and more than 20 years experience in large scale growth and fermentation and processing purification.

Michelle Railsback has a B.S. in Chemistry from Iowa Wesleyan College and 16 years of biotechnology and microbiology lab experience. This includes time with Cargill and Genencor International. Michelle's wide ranging experience and leadership skills are important assets to the lab.

Hidenori Watanabe received a B.S. in Biochemistry from The University of Iowa in 2006. He did a one year optional practical training internship with the CBB and was asked to join the staff in 2007.

Laboratory Assistants
In addition to the full-time professional lab staff, CBB employs students to perform laboratory custodial chores.

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