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Rukiye Nazan Eraslan Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), Disease Modeling and Oncology, Invivotek & NexusPharma
Dr. Eraslan joined the GGG team in 2019. As the Chief Scientific Officer, function as a scientific thought-leader, provide deep domain area expertise to both internal and external stakeholders. She led the scientific negotiation and due-diligence as a first layer to deliver decisional statements and explain data driven scientific rationale in to business, Rukiye also provides program/project management and operational support for drug development programs/projects (DDPP) to maintain accurate plans and documentation. As the voice of company, regularly interact with leadership of other functional areas, board of directors and key external stakeholders, including investors, regulators, and scientific communities. She contribute to the evolution of corporate strategy and participate in corporate decision-making.
Dr. Eraslan brings over 20 years of experience in Immunology and Oncology within multi-disciplinary matrix teams comprised of colleagues from various groups including Discovery, Safety, Clinical and Regulatory to develop and deliver biomarker strategies and potential combination therapies for immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases assets. She is highly experienced in launching and leading new research programs and new research organizations with a growth mindset and a deep commitment to innovation. She previously held positions at Xenogen/Caliper Life Sciences as Team Leader Immunology & Inflammation, Taconic, Inc., as Team Leader/Principal Scientist Immunology & Inflammation, Team Leader at Invivotek and Bristol Meyers Squibb as a Principal Scientist in Immuno-Science and Oncology.
Dr. Eraslan received a M.S. in Molecular Biology from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL. She earned a Ph.D. in Immunology at University of Illinois in Chicago, IL. Dr. Eraslan completed her post-doctoral fellowship in Immunology at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, IL. -
Michael D. Hayward Ph.D.
Vice President of Scientific Operations, Disease Modeling and Oncology, Invivotek & NexusPharma
Dr. Hayward joined the GGG team in 2013. As Vice President of Scientific Operations, Disease Modeling and Oncology, He oversees the coordination of ongoing projects, ensures validation of new and ongoing procedures and provides client facing communications at all project life-cycle stages. He has over 25 years of experience in biomedical research with in vivo systems and joined Invivotek from Taconic Biosciences (previously Xenogen Biosciences), where he directed commercial projects on the efficacy of pre-clinical test therapeutics and characterization of genetically modified rodents in the fields of metabolism and neurosciences. During his career, Michael has validated multiple disease models in a number of therapeutic areas and evaluated phenotypes of over 200 different genetically modified mouse lines and over a hundred pre-clinical test therapeutics, has served as an invited speaker to “Animal Models and Their Value in Predicting Efficacy and Toxicity” New York Academy of Sciences (2011), Singapore Association of Laboratory Animal Sciences (SALAS) Annual Meeting (2013) and has been interviewed for “Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News” and the “MIT Technology Review”. Dr. Hayward received his Ph.D. in Biology from Columbia University in New York, NY, did his postdoctoral fellowship at the Vollum Institute and was a Research Assistant Professor at the Center for the Study of Weight Regulation at Oregon Health Sciences University where he was funded by NIDA and NIAAA.
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Caroline Giordano B.S., RLAT
Senior Facility Manager
Caroline has over 21 years of experience in all aspects of animal facility management in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology environment, including extensive knowledge of AAALAC and IACUC procedures. She played a pivotal role in designing and initiating operations of the Invivotek’s Award winning barrier facility. Prior to joining Invivotek, Caroline was managing vivarium operations and projects at AAALAC accredited animal facilities at Palatin Technologies and Xenogen Biosciences. In addition, Caroline has extensive experience with production, breeding and conducting assays on genetically modified rodents and with in vivo compound testing for drug discovery from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Xenogen Biosciences and Palatin. She is an AALAS Registered Laboratory Animal Technician (RLAT). Ms. Giordano received her B.S. in Animal Sciences from Rutgers University.
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Vladimir Khazak Ph.D.
Head of Oncology, Patient Derived Xenograft Modelling, Invivotek & NexusPharma
Dr. Khazak joined the GGG team in 2019. As the Head of Oncology, He oversees pre-clinical studies, drives innovative research and lead a multi-disciplinary team setting in the oncology therapeutic area. He drives the design and execution of experimental plans that inform and enable project progression.
Dr. Vladimir Khazak is an experienced biologist with more than 20 years of working in multiple biopharmaceutical companies. He is the co-founder of NexusPharma, offers a unique collection of over 150 proprietary Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX) and preclinical cancer models of various tumor types for in vivo efficacy studies to evaluate novel antitumor agents. He has extensive expertise in genetics and molecular oncology with a particular emphasis on protein-protein interaction, gene regulation/expression and signal transduction. He provides access to information about our extensively characterized PDX models including mutational analysis, gene expression profiles, patient treatment and drug response data, growth curves, and histology.
Dr. Khazak has Ph.D. from the Chemical-Technical University, Moscow Institute for Genetics and Selection of Microorganisms, in Moscow, Russia. He completed his postdoctoral research at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA. -
Emily S. Arcamone B.S., RLATG
Business Development Account Manager, External Alliance Project Coordinator
Emily joined the GGG team in 2013. As Business Development Account Manager and External Alliance Project Coordinator, she develops proposals and assist with the execution of contracts and service agreements. To accomplish that she works with scientific project leaders and project management staff to establish and initiate new study proposals. She interacts with cross-functional scientific directors through the strategic planning and delivery of the development program, proactively identifying and managing issues in order to ensure satisfactory turn-around-time to all incoming projects.
Emily has over 20 years of experience working in the biotechnology field, including over 15 years in a management role. She joined Invivotek’s management team as a Resource Coordination Manager from Taconic Biosciences, where she had a similar title. Emily has extensive experience in the planning, scheduling, and allocation of resources to maximize the efficiency of the team including in vivo and in vitro Research Associates.
Emily received her B.S. in Animal Sciences from Rutgers University.
Scientific Management
