Scientific Advisory Board
Vicki L. Chandler is Director of the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona. She also serves as the Carl E. and Patricia Weiler Endowed Chair for Excellence in Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as a regents' professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and Molecular & Cellular Biology. She completed her undergraduate work in biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, received her doctorate from the University of California, San Francisco, and performed post-doctoral work at Stanford University. Chandler, who was on the faculty at the University of Oregon from 1985 to 1997, is an internationally recognized leader in the field of gene regulation and expression in plants and animals. She began working at the University of Arizona in 1997. She is the author of more than 75 scientific papers, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and was the first scientist in Arizona to receive the NIH Director's Pioneer Award.
William T. Christiansen II specializes in biotechnology patent matters, with particular emphasis on U.S. and International patent procurement, strategic management of patent portfolios and competitive patent position analysis. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Biophysics (with honors) from Oregon State University (1991). Bill served with the Attorney General of Washington in the Division of Education and as a Research Associate for the Center for Advanced Study and Research on Intellectual Property. After obtaining a Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Biophysics/?Molecular Biology from the University of Notre Dame (1995), Bill then went on to complete his J.D. at the University of Washington School of Law (1998) where he was managing articles and essays editor of the Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal. Bill has published many legal and scientific articles, has extensive teaching and research experience and has presented on topics related to intellectual property, as well as his scientific research at various international conferences. Bill's professional affiliations include: the Washington State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and the Licensing Executives Society.
Lorenzo A. DeLuca is a Founder, Investor and Director in DermaPlus since April 2004. Mr. DeLuca is the owner and President of Paxton Ventures Corp., a venture capital and consulting firm specializing in emerging growth companies. In connection with Paxton's portfolio investments, Mr. DeLuca has served as officer or director of Action Industries Inc., General Vision Services, Inc., Bio-Reference Laboratories and Merchants Advantage.com. Mr. DeLuca is an attorney admitted to practice in the State of New York and was a founding member of Zervas & DeLuca. Mr. DeLuca received a BA degree from Rutgers College and a J.D. degree from New York Law School.
Martin Dickman received his Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii 1986.Postdoctoral, Washington State University-Institute of Biological Chemistry, 1986-1987. Professor, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 1987-2005. Joined Texas A&M University in December 2005. Research interests in Signal transduction during pathogenic development-pathways, reactive oxygen signaling and functional genomics of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Plant Apotosis-Identification of genes and pathways modulating plant programmed cell death; generation of transgenic plants for biotic and abiotic stress via apoptois regulation.
Burt D. Ensley is a Founder and the CEO of DermaPlus since its inception in 2004. From 2000 to April 2004, Dr. Ensley served as the VP of Research and President of NuCycle Therapy, a subsidiary of Integrated BioPharma (symbol INB). From 1993 through 2000, Dr. Ensley was President, CEO and Director of Phytotech, Inc. a biotechnology remediation company. From 1989 through 1992, Dr. Ensley served as Director of Advanced Technology at Envirogen, Inc., a microbial based bioremediation company. From 1981 to 1989, Dr. Ensley headed the Specialty Chemicals Group at Amgen, Inc. Dr. Ensley received a B.S. and M.S. in Biology from the University of New Mexico in 1974 and 1976 and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Georgia in 1979. Since 1996, Dr. Ensley served on the National Science Foundation BIO Directorate Advisory Board and as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He holds 16 issued patents and has 30 peer-reviewed publications.
Zivko Nikolov is currently Dow Professor in Bioprocessing Engineering at Texas A&M University. Before joining Texas A&M in 2003, he was Vice President of bioprocess development with ProdiGene Inc., professor at Iowa State University and senior scientist at Michigan Biotech Institute. Dr. Nikolov has published more than 70 scientific articles and book chapters in the area of biochemical engineering and protein recovery. He actively collaborates with several biotech companies and serves as a scientific advisor and consultant on transgenic plant bioprocessing.