SCOTT TANNER - PRESIDENT
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Scott Tanner is leading the research effort on the development and improvement of the mass cytometer and tagging technologies at the University of Toronto in the StemSpec group , and also the engineering and business development at DVS Sciences. Scott received his PhD in physical chemistry from York University in Toronto, where he studied the chemistry and kinetics of ion-molecule reactions as they relate to the formation of soot in flames. He joined Sciex, then a small innovative private mass spectrometry company, in 1980 and stayed for 25 years, eventually becoming Principal Scientist. By the early 1990's he had gained an international reputation for his understanding of the fundamentals of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, including both plasma processes and ion optics. With the commercial success of the ICP-MS products that he helped to develop and bring to the market through the PerkinElmer-Sciex Joint Venture, Scott had the great fortune to meet and entice Vladimir Baranov and Dmitry Bandura to join his elemental mass spectrometry research group. The team went on to develop and promote the Dynamic Reaction Cell® which remains, more than a decade later, at the pinnacle of quadrupole ICP-MS technology. An opportunity to pursue the development of a mass spectrometer-based cytometer with his friends and colleagues Vladimir, Dmitry and Olga, in conjunction with generous support from John Dick at the University Health Network (a world renowned leukemia stem cell scientist), led Scott and colleagues to join the University of Toronto in March 2005. With an appointment as Associate Professor in the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, Scott coordinated this $8M, 3-year project to a successful conclusion. Transferring his faculty appointment to the Department of Chemistry in 2008, Scott continues to lead the $3M, 2-year sequel project that will result in the commercial introduction of the technology in 2010. The move from MDS Sciex to the University required the establishment of DVS Sciences Inc., initially a mass spectrometry consulting company. When it became evident that the CyTOF™ and MAXPAR™ technologies were both feasible and generating considerable excitement in the scientific community, DVS Sciences began its transformation into a research, development and manufacturing entity. Recognizing the challenges of entering the world market, and with many years experience with Joint Ventures behind him, Scott is looking to partner with an established market leader to bring the DVS products to the world. Amongst his scientific awards, Scott notes the
Manning Innovation
Foundation Award of Distinction (together with Vladimir) in 2001 and
the W.A.E. McBryde medal in 2003. In 2008 he joined the Editorial Board
of the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (Royal Society of
Chemistry), and is the Chair of the Ontario Chapter of the Manning
Innovation Foundation. See also Scott's biography included in our University Project Website Newsletter. Personal Mission in DVS: Scott is leading the business and IP strategy development during the transformation of DVS Sciences from a consulting company to a technology and instrumentation company. He presently serves as the President. His dream is to make DVS Sciences a dynamic technology developer where great talent cooperates and has fun amidst challenging work. |
VLADIMIR BARANOV - VICE-PRESIDENT
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Vladimir Baranov's scientific interest has concentrated on mass spectrometry, which includes fundamentals of operation and design of different MS instrumentation, their combination (or hybridization) with orthogonal techniques such as ion-molecule reactors, data acquisition and data reduction. In applications and development of methods for MS, he works on a sensitive and quantitative element-tagged immunoassay with ICP-MS detection, experimental ion-molecule chemistry, particularly on the gas phase chemistry of small organic molecules of pharmaceutical interest, transition metal ions and covalent clusters. Thermodynamics and reaction kinetics of ion molecule reactions (such as a ligand - ion complex formation) are primary tools of his research. He was also involved in the development of methods and instruments based on ion molecule chemistry in a reaction cell for elimination of isobaric interfering ions (atomic and small-to-medium size organic ions) prior to mass analysis in ICP and API MS applications. Vladimir Baranov's theoretical background is in the quadrupole theory (stability, acceptance and transmission of multipole RF and electrostatic driven devises), molecular gas dynamics, and supersonic beam expansion into vacuum. In these investigations, he uses methods of direct mathematical simulation and trajectory methods and recently developed algebraic methods of solution of the Mathieu equation. Vladimir Baranov was born in Russia. He received his M.Sc at the Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University. He then received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1987. He later became Assistant to the Chair of Physical Chemistry at the Moscow State University. In Canada, he became Research Associate at the Department of Chemistry, York University. Later, Vladimir Baranov joined MDS SCIEX in Toronto as a Senior Scientist. He received the Manning Award of Distinction from the Manning Innovation Awards Foundation for the remarkable invention of the ICP-MS Dynamic Reaction Cell together with Dr. Scott Tanner. In 2002, Vladimir together with his co-workers Dmitry Bandura and Scott Tanner won the Elsevier Award SAB for the highest impact paper published in Spectrochimica Acta. In 2005, Vladimir Baranov left MDS to develop the Mass Cytometer, and became Professor at the Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto. Vladimir is the Vice President of DVS Sciences Inc. |
DMITRY BANDURA - DIRECTOR
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Dmitry Bandura's objectives are to initiate, develop and implement new approaches and technologies in analytical instrumentation. He is one of the founders of DVS Sciences. Dmitry has special interest in plasma dynamics, gas-phase ion-molecule chemistry, ion generation and detection processes, time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Dmitry completed M.Sc. in Engineering Physics at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (1985). He then joined the research program at the Department of Molecular Physics and gained Ph.D. in Technical Sciences in 1992. with the thesis work related to the development of instruments and methods of elemental analysis of hypervelocity microparticles via mass spectrometry of the impact-induced plasma (sup. Prof. A.A.Sysoev). At the end of 1992 Dmitry emigrated to Australia and worked as Research Physicist at GBC Scientific Equipment in Melbourne (1993 - 1998), carrying out research and development in Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. The product of the research was introduced in March 1998 as Optimass 8000 ICP-TOF-MS, which won R&D 100 new product award in Analytical Instrumentation for 1998. In 1998 Dmitry moved to Canada to join MDS Sciex, where he worked as senior research scientist in research and development of new ICP-MS instrumentation (1998-2005) and led the ICP-MS research (2004-2005). In 2005, together with Scott and Vladimir, Dmitry left MDS to pursue independent development of ICP-TOF-MS based cytometer, and became research associate at IBBME, University of Toronto, with recent reappointment in the Department of Chemistry (2008). Dmitry's main role in DVS is related to initiation, implementation and coordination of research and development efforts for the CyTOF™ line of products. |
OLGA ORNATSKY - DIRECTOR
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Olga Ornatsky is working with the objective of developing bioanalytical assays for the novel instrument. She is helping to facilitate the development of a mass spectrometer-based cytometer funded through Genome Canada and other co-funding agencies. Her primary field of expertise is in cellular and molecular biology. Her primary interest lies in signal transduction pathways and their dysfunction in cancer. Her research areas encompass in vitro study of gene expression in human cells, subcellular localization of proteins by immunofluorescence, analysis of protein post-translational modification using various mass spectrometry techniques. She is currently collaborating with researchers at University of Toronto Department of Chemistry, University Health Network, Ontario Cancer Institute and the Faculty of Medicine to develop methods and applications for the determination of leukemia subclasses in patient samples, and other clinical and drug-discovery applications by ICP-MS-based mass cytometry. Olga Ornatsky was born in Russia. She received M.Sc from the Department of Biology at the Moscow State University. In, 1989 she completed her Ph.D. in Cell & Molecular Biology, and worked as a Research Scientist at the Cardiology Centre in Moscow studying smooth muscle cell involvement in atherosclerotic plaque formation. In 1993, she immigrated to Canada, and became a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at York University. She quickly progressed to become Senior Research Associate in the Laboratory of Vascular Biology and Cardiac Surgery at St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto. Her outstanding achievements in her field brought her to MDS Proteomics, Inc., where she led her research group as a Senior Scientist for four years. In 2005, she left MDS to pursue a different direction in research. Together with the founders of DVS Sciences, she helped to start up the Mass Cytometry project at the Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto. Currently, Olga holds the position of Director of Bioassay Development at DVS Sciences, Inc. |
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