| BioBuzz has been connecting the life science workforce since 2009. We’ve built an expansive community in the Mid-Atlantic with a national readership that spans from Massachusettes to Florida, and New York to California. For our next chapter, we’re building a proprietary talent logistics model to help employers source and hire life science talent. Learn more. |
In the ever-evolving realm of life sciences, continuous education and training stand as cornerstones for professionals to stay abreast of cutting-edge advancements. One such avenue is Bio-Trac, a distinguished professional development and workforce training program nestled within Montgomery College’s Bioscience Education Center.
In this article, we’ll delve into the expertise of three distinguished instructors at Bio-Trac, shedding light on their impactful research, leadership roles, and transformative workshops. Last week, we explored the backgrounds of two professors; this week, we’ll learn about Dr. Fatah Kashanchi, Dr. Heather Branscome, and Dr. Sijung Yun as they continue to shape and advance the landscape of the life sciences industry, inspiring professionals and fostering innovation along the way.
Dr. Fatah Kashanchi
Fatah Kashanchi, professor of Virology and Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Virology at George Mason University, will co-lead Exosomes: Principles, Methods and Applications, a four-day workshop at Bio-Trac. The program offers an up-to-date introduction to the field of exosomes, microvesicles, and other extracellular vesicles.
Dr. Kashanchi earned his PhD in microbiology from the University of Kansas with Dr. Charles Wood who was instrumental in the development of the Abbot HIV-1 gp120 ELISA assay in 1986 and was trained under the supervision of Dr. Susumu Tonegawa (Nobel Laureate for Medicine, 1987) at MIT. Dr. Kashanchi further trained in Dr. John Brady’s lab at NIH/NCI from 1991-2000 and published more than 30 papers during his postdoc and senior investigator Tenure. He then moved to George Washington Medical School in Washington DC where he ran his lab for 8 years. Finally, he moved to George Mason University in 2011 and became the director of research on biodefense-related organisms. His studies focused on retrovirus gene expression. Throughout his career, Dr. Kashanchi’s work has included HIV-1 gene expression. His research interests include human retroviruses, biodefense viral agents, Cell cycle, host-pathogen interactions, small molecule and peptide inhibitors, as well as extracellular vesicles, including exosomes.
He is currently head of the Laboratory of Molecular Virology (LMV) at George Mason University. He has obtained more than $15.8M in funding (NIH, DOD, DOE, and Keck) since he departed from NIH in 2000. He has published 201 peer-reviewed manuscripts (h index = 53), and has served as an editorial board and reviewer for Retrovirology, JBC, J. Virol, Virology, NAR, 4 PLoS Journals, Cell, Molecular Cell, Nature, Medicine, and Science Translational Medicine. He is also a regular NIH study section member and has served on 141 panels since 2000. He has chaired 23 of these study sections. Dr. Kashanchi is also the President of the American Society for Intercellular Communication (ASIC).
Dr. Heather Branscome
Heather Branscome, senior scientist at ATCC, led Best Practices in Mammalian Cell Culture, a three-day training workshop at Bio-Trac. Held earlier this year in February, the workshop provided researchers, biologists, and others with a solid foundation in the cultivation of mammalian cells.
Dr. Branscome has over 15 years of cross-functional laboratory experience and in her current role, she is responsible for managing the Cell Biology Bioproduction and Preservation laboratories at ATCC. Throughout her career, she has gained significant expertise in cell and molecular biology. She has fulfilled various roles to support and lead new product development, process improvement, technology transfer, biomanufacturing & large-scale processing, and quality control. Her primary research interests surround the advanced purification of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and the functional analysis of stem cell EVs in various models of cellular repair. She earned both her Master of Science in Biology and her Ph.D. in Biosciences from George Mason University.
Dr. Branscome is also a principle instructor in the upcoming Bio-Trac Exosomes: Principles and Methods workshop which will take place again in the spring of 2025.
Dr. Sijung Yun
Dr. Sijung Yun is Co-founder, President and COO of Predictiv Care, Inc. a personal genomics solution biotech company for predictive medicine.
Dr. Yun obtained his Ph.D. in computational biology from Boston University, with his research focusing on the aggregation of amyloid beta protein in Alzheimer’s disease. Sijung took a postdoc position at the NIH, with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) studying structural bioinformatics and proteomics. Later, he worked at the genomics core in the National Institute of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Currently, he is an independent contract bioinformatician primarily working for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Adjunct at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and is a lead instructor in numerous bioinformatics next generation sequencing (NGS) training activities.
Dr. Yun along with Dr. Michael Kelly (Director, Single Cell Core – NIH/NCI), directs the Bio-Trac four-day Single Cell RNA-Seq training program. This workshop, comprised of multiple lectures, hands-on wet lab and in silico analysis training is held twice a year, the next being held on November 12-15 at the Bioscience Education Center. Designed for research scientists, this training program provides an in-depth examination and comprehensive introduction to single-cell RNA-Seq. The workshop includes key aspects of NSG and RNA-seq methodologies, as well as an introduction to the modern armamentarium of tools to conduct these experiments. We have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Yun since 2009 and have provided NGS instruction to over 750 Bio-Trac participants.
