GENOPIS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Process Development
Dr. Mack Kuo comes to WACKER with over 15 years of Biotech industry experience. He attained his Doctoral degree in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University, where he focused on x-ray crystallography and structure-based drug design of proteins essential to tuberculosis and malaria. After obtaining his Ph.D. he joined the Biotech industry and throughout his career has acquired extensive experience with biologics development. Mack has led the design, scale-up, and optimization of manufacturing processes for bacterial and yeast fermentation, as well as plasmid and recombinant protein production.
At Wacker Biotech he leads the Process Development group, overseeing technology transfers, and development and scale-up of production processes for cGMP plasmid drug substance manufacturing.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director Biosolutions Americas & Integration Lead
- Senior Director for the Biosolutions Americas
Dr. Mark Busch serves as the WACKER Senior Director for the Biosolutions Americas. He earned his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, his MBA from the Collège des Ingénieurs and also served as a Boston University visiting scholar. Dr. Busch joined WACKER in 2016 and progressed through business development leadership roles to his current position. Prior to WACKER, he worked in consulting and strategic planning positions with BASF in Germany.
Philippe Cronet, comes to WACKER with over 20 years in the Biotech and Pharma industry including 17 years of senior management experience. He attained his PhD at European Molecular Biology Lab in Germany, in Molecular Biology, protein science, structural biology and bioinformatics. His field of expertise being drug discovery, biopharmaceutical process and cGMP manufacturing and Epigenetics, having worked for AstraZeneca, Eurogentec, AnaSpec and Diagenode.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Facilities Site Services and Engineering
Fred Denning has close to 30 years of experience in facilities, operations & maintenance, plant/utilities operations, metrology & calibrations, HVAC/BMS systems, tenant improvements and new construction project management as well as Environmental Health & Safety and Security functions,
Fred attained his Bachelor of Science in Business Management from University of Phoenix in 2002 and has been in the medical device/ life sciences, biotech/pharma industry for over 25 years.
Prior to Wacker, Fred managed the Facilities Site Services & Engineering operations as an Associate Director with Vical, then Genopis before joining WACKER. With WACKER he continues to manage the Facilities Site Services & Engineering functions and leads the CapEx project execution at WBU in addition to day-to-day operations supporting the site and cross-functional support with EHS & Security.
Fred is originally from small town in Southeastern Montana called Glendive, where he was born and raised until he joined the US Navy in 1986. He was in the Navy from 1986 to 1922, haven served in Operation "Dessert Storm" in liberation of Kuwait. He was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1992 with honors for good conduct. While in the Navy, Fred was stationed in San Diego where he decided to stay post separation from the Navy.
In his vast experience, Giao has implemented companywide procedures and processes to drive efficiency and improvements and developed and executed validation master plans and validation protocols for building systems.
Giao attained his Bachelors in Science in Biology with an emphasis in Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry from the University of California at Irvine and is currently working on his MBA from Pepperdine University. Prior to joining WACKER he was with NKMax as Senior Director Quality Assurance.
Keith Hall has over 30 years of biopharmaceutical experience including product development, manufacturing, process development, assay development, quality and CMC regulatory. He joined Wacker Biotech US in February 2021 as Chief of Operations following the acquisition of Genopis Inc., where he served as Chief Operating Office from August 2018. Prior to his tenure at Genopis he worked at Vical for 15 years in various roles of increasing responsibly, the last being Vice President of Operations. From 2000 to 2003 he served as Director of Manufacturing for Agennix in Houston, TX where he oversaw drug substance and product manufacture, and the design, construction and commissioning of a recombinant human lactoferrin bulk drug substance manufacturing facility in Italy. From 1994 to 2000 he served as Senior Manager, Quality Control and Analytical Development for Valentis/GeneMedicine in The Woodlands, TX. Prior to 1994, Mr. Hall served in various development and manufacturing positions of increasing responsibilities at Hybritech and Amgen. He earned a master's degree in business administration from the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, and a bachelor's degree in microbiology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Job Titles:
- Director of Manufacturing
Robert Catolos has over 25 years of manufacturing experience working with recombinant protein and plasmid DNA platform technology at small and large-scale facilities. His knowledge includes cell culture /fermentation (i.e mammalian, microbial, and insect cell lines), bio separation, purification, and fill finish processing. Robert received his bachelor's degree from University of California, Santa Cruz, home of the Banana Slugs. Prior to WACKER, Robert was the Director of Manufacturing for Vical, managing operations from drug substance to final drug product. Robert's experience comes from various commercial-approved drug manufacturing facilities including Bayer, Chiron (Novartis), and Baxter and Phase 3 start-up companies such as Favrile and Vical who pursued drug approval.