Management Team

Richard O. Snyder, Ph.D.

Director

In addition to his duties as Center of Excellence for Regenerative Health Biotechnology Director, Dr. Snyder is the Director of Biotherapeutic Programs in the Office of Research and Graduate Programs and a faculty member in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and the Department of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine. Previously, he was the Director of the Human Applications Laboratory and Vector Core within the Powell Gene Therapy Center at the University of Florida. Prior to joining the faculty at UF, Dr. Snyder was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He also brings considerable industry expertise, holding previous positions at Cell Genesys, Somatix, Merlin, and Avigen, where he was engaged in efforts to develop gene transfer vector and vaccine technology, along with therapeutic applications.

Robert K. Zwerner, Ph.D.

Director of Scientific Operations

Dr. Zwerner has over 35 years experience in cell culture of all types from T-flasks to bioreactors, hollow-fiber systems and large scale cultureware. He came to Florida Biologix® from Osiris Therapeutics in Baltimore, MD where he was Director of Manufacturing of hMSCs for clinical trials. Prior to that he was Director of Cell Culture for Charles Rivers Laboratories in Rockville, MD, a CMO involved with cGMP produced cell banks and cGMP cell products. He had previously spent 13 years at Coulter Corporation (Beckman-Coulter) in Florida as Manager of both Large and Small Cell Culture. Dr. Zwerner joined Florida Biologix in 2006 as Manager of Cell Culture and is presently Director of Scientific Operations. He has a Ph.D. in Immunobiology from Purdue University.

Joyce Francis, Ph.D.

Director of Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Dr. Francis was most recently the Director Quality Assurance and Quality Control for the Powell Gene Therapy Center Human Applications Laboratory, and Director of Quality Assurance for the National Gene Vector Laboratory Toxicology Center at the University of Florida. Prior to this position, Dr. Francis held several positions of increasing responsibility in the biopharmaceutical industry. These include Director, Quality for Baxter Healthcare's licensed product vaccine production facility in Maryland, Director of QA/QC for Genetic Therapy, Inc, a Novartis company and Manager of Quality Control for Wyeth-Lederle's licensed product vaccine manufacturing facility in New York.

Linna Lim, M.S.

Director of Operations

Ms. Lim has 11+ years of cGMP experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was the Fill Finish Manager at Florida Biologix. Prior to joining Florida Biologix, Linna was a Team Leader in the Fill Finish Process Development Department at Human Genome Sciences and was a Fill Finish Project Manager at Charles River Laboratories. Linna has an M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University.

Heather A. Voet, BS

Manager Quality Assurance

Ms. Voet has 10 years of cGMP experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. She joined Florida Biologix as the Quality Assurance Compliance Supervisor in January 2007. Prior to joining Florida Biologix, Heather held several positions of increasing responsibility in Corporate Quality Assurance at NABI Biopharmaceuticals. Her responsibilities included final product release, final approval of all quality system documentation and oversight of all contract manufacturers. Heather has a BS in Microbiology from the University of Florida.

Mahuya Bose, Ph.D.

Manager, Quality Control

Dr. Bose oversees the Quality Control Department of Florida Biologix. Prior to joining Florida Biologix, Dr. Bose was a Senior Project Leader in the Quality Control Division of Clontech Laboratories, Mountain View, California. Dr. Bose also has extensive bench experience in molecular biology, cell biology and protein chemistry. Dr. Bose has a Ph.D. in Toxicology from the Industrial Toxicology Research Center, India, and postdoctoral training at the NY State Department of Health, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the University of Florida.

Caesar James (Jim) Ayala MBA/MHS

Director of Business Development

Mr. Ayala is responsible for contract negotiation and account management at Florida Biologix®. Prior to joining Florida Biologix, Mr. Ayala has spent 13 years in the corporate health insurance industry having held positions in: contract negotiation, new business development, provider relations, strategy development, marketing, regulatory compliance and industry analysis. Mr. Ayala holds Masters Degrees in Business Administration and Health Science from the University of Florida.

Christine Aytug

Director of Marketing and Sales

Prior to joining Florida Biologix, Mrs. Aytug worked for 20 years at GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceuticals in various areas including in immunology research, market research, brand management and sales. At Florida Biologix, she is responsible for Sales and Marketing efforts. Mrs. Aytug holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BS in Zoology from Duke.

Edward Drannbauer, MBA/MS

Facility Manager

Mr. Drannbauer is responsible for ensuring that the building systems and process equipment of Florida Biologix's cGMP manufacturing facility are operational and maintained. Prior to joining Florida Biologix, Mr. Drannbauer held several positions, domestically and abroad, owning responsibility in the areas of industrial safety and operations management. Mr. Drannbauer holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, and a Master’s degree in Food and Resource Economics from the University of Florida.