Alan Blake

CEO

Mr. Alan Blake is Chief Executive Officer and a Co-Founder of Nuclein. Prior to his involvement with Nuclein, Mr. Blake was a Co-Founder and CEO of Yorktown Technologies LP, which developed and marketed GloFish®, the world’s first widely commercialized biotech animal. Launched in 2003, GloFish subsequently grew to become the most visible consumer biotech product in the world, available in more than 7,000 retail locations, including Walmart, PetSmart and Petco. GloFish was sold to Spectrum Brands Inc. (NYSE: SPB) in 2017. Before GloFish, while a student at the University of Texas at Austin, Mr. Blake founded and led ClassMap, a venture capital-funded startup in the online learning space. Mr. Blake was a recipient of the Austin Under 40 award, and he has also served as a Board Member for numerous companies and nonprofit organizations, including currently serving on the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business Advisory Council. He graduated with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and holds 25 patents.

Jeffrey Stukuls

CFO

Mr. Jeffrey Stukuls is Chief Financial Officer of Nuclein. Mr. Stukuls has an accomplished background as a Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer in the technology development, online retail, and services industries. In addition to co-founding and selling his own businesses, including Medwing.com in 2010, his expertise has centered on raising substantial funding and scaling various businesses. Mr. Stukuls was CFO of TrackingPoint, a technology development company which raised over $80M and grew its first-year revenue to over $11M. Additionally, Mr. Stukuls led rapid-growth efforts at Stampede Consulting, which scaled from a team of 10 to over 1,000 people in its first year. He graduated from Bentley University with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy and a minor in Computer Information Systems, as well as earned an Entrepreneurial Master’s Program Certificate from the MIT Extension School and the Entrepreneur’s Organization.

Steven Back

COO

Mr. Steven Back is Chief Operating Officer of Nuclein.  Prior to Nuclein, Mr. Back held leadership positions in Quality, Regulatory, Engineering and Manufacturing. During his 14 years at Luminex Corporation, he served as Head of Quality and Regulatory across five North American locations, overseeing Quality Management System enhancements, Regulatory Body audits, Product Submissions, Medical Device Report actions (Recalls), Supplier Quality, Production and Incoming Quality, Design Assurance, Documentation and product control and release. As VP of Manufacturing at Luminex, he led all aspects of instrument and reagent/assay cGMP compliant manufacturing, which included Incoming Quality, Quality Control, Supply Chain, Warehouse, Instrument Assembly and Reagent/Assay manufacturing. Prior to Luminex Corporation, Mr. Back worked at Abbott Laboratories, holding several leadership positions during his 18-year tenure, leading Engineering, Manufacturing and Quality organizations.  He Graduated with a BSSE from Wright State University, an MSEE from the University of Texas at Arlington, and an MBA from the University of Dallas.

Reid Sadler

CCO

Mr. Reid Sadler is Chief Commercial Officer of Nuclein. Mr. Sadler brings over 29 years of sales and marketing experience in the in-vitro diagnostics and biotechnology industries. Mr. Sadler's executive leadership expertise covers general commercial development and management, business development, product marketing, strategic planning, sales team growth, go-to-market strategy, and customer support. His experience spans multiple diagnostic channels, including Molecular Diagnostics (Respiratory, Enteric, & Infectious Diseases), Point of Care (Infectious Diseases), Microbiology, Clinical Chemistry, Immunoassay (Infectious Diseases, Cardiac Markers, & Endocrinology), Blood Bank, Hematology, and Laboratory Services. Mr. Sadler’s extensive team development and leadership experiences include time spent at Roche Diagnostics, Immucor, Luminex and most recently, Binx Health. Mr. Sadler holds a B.A. degree with an emphasis in business administration and political science from the University of Pittsburgh and completed one year of full-time MBA courses at Lehigh University’s College of Business in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Charles Collins, PhD

CTO

Dr. Charles (Chuck) Collins is Chief Technology Officer of Nuclein. Dr. Collins was with Luminex Corporation for over 18 years, rising rapidly through the organization to Senior Vice President, Research & Development for more than three years and then Senior Vice President, Technology & Innovation for more than two years. Dr. Collins was responsible for all Research and Development activities across Luminex, including  Systems R&D, Assay R&D and Clinical Affairs, ATG, Chemistry R&D, and the PMO Group. Combined these groups spanned early Innovation, moving into formal Product Development, Clinical Trials, Design Transfer to Manufacturing, and on -market support of all products. Prior to Luminex Dr. Collins was an Electrical Engineer at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, MD. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from The University of Texas at Austin in Solid State Electronics and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Trinity University, San Antonio.

Jim Hully, PhD

CSO

Dr. Jim Hully is Chief Scientific Officer of Nuclein. For the last two decades, he has worked in the IVD sector helping a diverse range of companies clear products through the FDA. Prior to Nuclein, Dr. Hully worked an independent consultant focused on FDA EUA COVID-19 assays, as well as at Nanosphere (now part of DiaSorin), where he led the R&D team developing highly multiplexed IVD assays for 510(k) clearance on the Verigene System. Dr. Hully previously worked at Intelligent MDx, where he patented robust methods for oligo designs resulting in multiple SBIR grants, as well as FDA EUA & 510(k) cleared assays. Dr. Hully's experience also includes Applied Biosystems (now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific), where he was on the team that launched the novel In Situ PCR system. With post-doctoral work at Genentech and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Dr. Hully graduated from the University of North Wales, Bangor, with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology, and he earned a Master's in Science & Doctor of Philosophy from the University of London in Pathology & Toxicology.

Benjamin Treece

Executive VP of Quality & Regulatory Affairs

Mr. Benjamin Treece is the Executive Vice President of Quality & Regulatory Affairs.  Mr. Treece has held Quality & Regulatory leadership positions in the In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) industry.  Most recently serving as the VP of Quality & Regulatory Affairs for diagnostic start-up Veravas establishing the company’s QMS and as Director, Quality & Regulatory Affairs, for Everly Health responsible for the Everywell Direct To Consumer (DTC) testing portfolio.  Prior to these recent experiences, Mr. Treece had a 15-year tenure at Luminex holding positions of increasing responsibility in the Quality organization ending his Luminex tenure as Director of Quality.  As Director of Quality at Luminex, he oversaw all Quality aspects for the Austin based manufacturing operations that included IVD Instruments, IVD Assays and life science instrument & reagent product lines.  In addition, Mr. Treece had global responsibility for Design Assurance and Document Control teams.  Prior to Luminex, Mr. Treece began his medical device experience as a Quality Assurance Chemist with an orthopedic implant manufacturer that is now Zimmer-Biomet.  Throughout his medical device career, he has served as a Management Representative and was the point of contact for third-party audits, including FDA inspections.  He graduated with a BS in Chemistry from University of Texas Austin and an MBA from West Texas A&M.

Huiping Zhu, PhD

VP of Assay Development

Dr. Huiping Zhu is Vice President of Assay Development of Nuclein. Prior to Nuclein, Dr. Zhu was Director of Assay R&D at Luminex Corporation, leading molecular diagnostic product development and design verification in support of 510(k) and IVDR submissions. During her career, Dr. Zhu has been awarded an NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, an R01 and an R21 research grant, and was a key contributor to multiple NIH and CDC research programs. Dr. Zhu has authored over 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications in the fields of molecular diagnostics, human genetics, and developmental biology. She graduated from Peking University Health Science Center with a Bachelor of Medicine (M.B.) degree, and subsequently earned her Ph.D. in Genetic & Molecular Epidemiology there as well.

Steve Truffer

VP of Sales

Mr. Steve Truffer is the Vice President of Sales at Nuclein. Steve brings over 35 years of experience in sales and marketing within the in-vitro diagnostics, medical device, and life sciences sectors. His extensive background includes leading commercial sales, marketing and operational teams, business development, strategic planning, go-to-market execution, and P & L Management. Steve’s experience spans a broad range of diagnostic disciplines, including Molecular, Point of Care, Genomics, Microbiology, Clinical Chemistry, Immunoassay, Hematology, and Urinalysis. Throughout his career, Steve has held leadership roles at industry leaders such as Roche Diagnostics, LGC Clinical Diagnostics, and Beckman Coulter. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a focus on business administration from the University of Maryland.

Mark Hunter

VP of Operations

Mr. Mark Hunter is the Vice President of Operations of Nuclein. He brings over 25 years of leadership experience in the medical device, diagnostics, and life sciences industries. Prior to Nuclein, Mark was CEO of Harmonic Bionics, a neuro-rehab medical device startup spun out of The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to Harmonic Bionics, Mr. Hunter held leadership roles at Luminex Corporation, where he served as Sr. Director of Global Supply Chain, overseeing operations across five manufacturing sites. Earlier in his career, he held supply chain and operations management roles at Abbott Laboratories and Intel Corporation. Mr. Hunter earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Arizona State University.

Geoff Richman

Senior Director of Marketing

Mr. Geoff Richman is Senior Director of Marketing at Nuclein. Geoff brings over 15 years of marketing experience in the in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) and medical device industries with positions spanning start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. His expertise includes product marketing, product management, market research, downstream marketing, branding, product launch, and go-to-market. Geoff’s IVD experience encompasses point-of-care, molecular diagnostics, next-generation sequencing, infectious disease, respiratory, STI, oncology, and inherited disease. Prior to joining Nuclein, Geoff held positions of increasing responsibility at Binx health, Pillar Biosciences, Boston Scientific, Boston Biomedical Consultants/IQVIA, and Novartis. He earned an MBA from Georgia Tech and graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Syracuse University.

Miranda Chavez

Director of Program & Project Management

Ms. Miranda Chavez is Director of Program & Project Management of Nuclein. Prior to Nuclein, Ms. Chavez held Program Management leadership roles at Pattern Bioscience and Luminex Corporation, leading design transfer, and go-to-market, initiatives at each company. She established Luminex’s first Field Quality Assurance department, leading global root-cause analysis, and product resolution efforts, for field-related issues. Ms. Chavez has led EUA, IVD and CE IVD efforts for more than 20 medical diagnostic products and is credited with a CLSI guideline for Newborn Screening Programs. She graduated from Saint Edward’s University with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, pre-medical.

Jason McCabe

Director of Manufacturing

Mr. Jason McCabe is the Director of Manufacturing for Nuclein. Mr. McCabe has 30 years high tech manufacturing operations experience in the Semiconductor and Biomedical Device industries, holding various leadership positions in Manufacturing, Quality and Project Management. Mr. McCabe brings extensive experience in Manufacturing Operations, Contract Manufacturer management, Project Management, New Product Introduction, and Lean Manufacturing. Most recently, Mr. McCabe was Director of Operations at Ultra-Clean Technologies, having overall responsibility for product delivery, revenue, and quality. Mr. McCabe also led the ARIES Consumables manufacturing organization at Luminex, having responsibility for overall product delivery, quality, cGMP and FDA compliance, and led the Consumables Manufacturing organization through unprecedented growth. Prior to Luminex, Mr. McCabe had a 21-year tenure at Applied Materials, holding various leadership positions within the Dielectric Systems & Modules group spanning multiple regions. He graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas.

Martin Kochanczyk

Director of Systems Integration

Dr. Martin Kochanczyk is Director of Systems Integration at Nuclein. His professional career has focused on developing sample-to-answer diagnostics systems, particularly in the early-phase development, evaluation, and feasibility phases of product development. He has extensive experience leading diverse R&D teams. He held previous leadership roles at Luminex Corporation and Pattern Bioscience. Dr. Kochanczyk’s academic work centered around building novel microscopy techniques to probe single molecule interactions in biological systems. Dr. Kochanczyk holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Physics from The University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Purdue University.

Michael Karberg, PhD

Chief Scientist

Dr. Michael Karberg is the Chief Scientist, and a founding team member, of Nuclein. In this role, he has been intimately involved in developing the company’s core technologies since its inception.  With decades of experience, Dr. Karberg has amassed an extensive background in nucleic acid assay development and optimization. In previous roles at Life Technologies and Thermo Fisher Scientific, he managed the research and development of animal health and food safety custom assays and products. He has developed over 100 assays, including those used to detect E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, type 2 porcine circovirus, and porcine respiratory coronavirus. Dr. Karberg graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Genetics and earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin.

William Cunningham

Chairman

Dr. William Cunningham holds the James L. Bayless Chair in Free Enterprise at the University of Texas at Austin. He currently teaches corporate governance at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law and the McCombs School of Business. Dr. Cunningham previously served as President of UT Austin (1985-1992) and Chancellor of the University of Texas System (1992-2000). In addition to serving on many public commissions and nonprofit boards, he has been a Board Member of numerous public companies, including currently serving as Chairman of the Board of Lincoln Financial Group (NYSE: LNC), Lead Director for Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), and the John Hancock Mutual Funds Board. He has also previously served on the boards of more than a dozen other public and private companies, including as Chairman of the Board of GloFish LLC. His many honors include a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Michigan State University, from which he also received an honorary law degree and the Distinguished Service Award from UT Austin. Dr. Cunningham received a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1966, a Master of Business Administration in 1967, and a doctorate in 1971, each from Michigan State University.

Douglas Bryant

Until his retirement in February, 2024, Doug Bryant had served for over 15 years as president and CEO of QuidelOrtho, based in San Diego, California. A veteran of the IVD industry, Doug began his career with Abbott's Diagnostic Division 40 years ago. For the last 10 years at Abbott, he was a corporate officer of the company and served in several geographically diverse vice president roles, including Abbott Vascular (Tokyo and Hong Kong); Abbott Diagnostics and Abbott Molecular CCO roles (Chicago); CVP Dx Operations, Europe, Middle East and Africa (Wiesbaden, Germany); and CVP Dx Operations, Asia Pacific (Tokyo). Prior to becoming an officer of the company, he held several commercial roles over the years, including Managing Director, UK and Ireland (Maidenhead, England).

Sanjay Chandra

Mr. Sanjay Chandra is a Principal at Trinity Investors, managing more than $6.5 billion in assets and serves its affiliated companies in a variety of roles and responsibilities. In addition, Mr. Chandra is a Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of American Leather, a former Board Manager of GloFish LLC, and a Board Member of numerous other companies. Mr. Chandra also serves as an Engineering Advisory Board Member for the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Chandra graduated with highest honors from UT Austin with a Bachelor of Science in electrical and computer engineering and is a CFA charterholder.

Richard Crockett

Dr. Richard Crockett is a Co-Founder of Nuclein. Prior to Nuclein, Dr. Crockett was Co-Founder and President of Yorktown Technologies, leading the research, development, production, and regulatory efforts of the company, including the successful review of many FDA applications. Beyond Yorktown, Dr. Crockett is an experienced entrepreneur, who prior to co-founding Yorktown, co-founded ClassMap with Mr. Blake. He graduated from Yale University with an Intensive Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, later returning to Yale to earn his Medical Doctorate before surgical residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. Dr. Crockett holds 21 patents and is published in several peer-reviewed journals.

David Shockley

H. David Shockley, Jr. is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Movair (formerly International Biophysics Corporation), a 30-year-old medical device development and manufacturing company based in Austin, Texas. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Organicare, a pharmaceutical drug developer and manufacturer in Austin. Mr. Shockley and IBC have developed many products over the past three decades, with several of these products becoming “spinoff” companies that were ultimately sold. In total, Mr. Shockley has been involved with the sale of more than $125 million in businesses that he started. He began his career in 1988 at Cardio Metrics, where he rose to President prior to its $3 million sale. In addition to serving as Chairman of Organicare, Mr. Shockley is currently serving as a Board Member for Safen Medical Devices, and he formerly served as a Director for numerous other health-related companies that were successfully sold. Mr. Shockley attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a Bachelor of Science in biology.

Walter Narajowski

Walter M. Narajowski served as Chief Operating Officer of Minute Molecular since November, 2020 until the 2023 merger with Nuclein, LLC, where he now serves as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Narajowski continues to serve as Partner, LabDx a bio-tech consulting company since 2015.  Mr. Narajowski has over 25 years of senior level Medical device and In-Vitro Diagnostic industry experience.  Serving as Board member MDXHealth (MDX:EURONEXT) 2014 – 2019. Sr. Vice President & General Manager for Roka BioScience (ROKA:NASDAQ) from 2009 – 2015.  President/C.E.O. and Board Member of Pathway Diagnostics a biomarker development and testing company sold to Quest Diagnostics in 2008.  Vice President & General Manger of Focus Diagnostics, an Infectious Disease Reference Laboratory and IVD company.  Mr. Narajowski spent over 20 years with Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in various positions of increasing responsibility vice president and general manager critical care products, general manager of physician office diagnostics and director of research and development with Abbott Diagnostics.  Mr. Narajowski received his M.S. in bioengineering from the University of Utah, and his B.S. in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.