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Scientific Advisory Board
World Precision Instruments is proud to introduce its esteemed Scientific Advisory Board. Comprised of renowned experts in various scientific disciplines, the SAB plays a vital role in guiding and advancing WPI's commitment to innovation and excellence in scientific research and drug development. With diverse backgrounds and extensive knowledge, the board members bring a wealth of expertise to the table.
Their strategic guidance and insights help shape the direction of WPI's research and development efforts, ensuring the company continues to deliver cutting-edge solutions that meet the evolving needs of the scientific community. By collaborating closely with WPI's internal teams, the Scientific Advisory Board fosters a dynamic exchange of ideas and knowledge, accelerating the development of groundbreaking technologies that drive scientific discovery across various disciplines.
Dr. Ramkumar Menon
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Dr. Ramkumar Menon is a Professor and Endowed Chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Texas, Medical Branch, where he also serves as the Director of the Division of Basic Research and Translational Science.
Dr. Menon has contributed to several research studies in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the Preterm Birth International Collaborative as a thought leader in reproductive health and preclinical models. Dr. Menon’s laboratory is focused on understanding the biology and pathophysiology of pregnancy and birth and has developed 3D bioprinted organoids and organ on chip models for pregnancy and parturition studies. Dr. Menon’s laboratory has made significant contributions to the fields of exosomes and epigenetics, telomere biology, and feto-maternal interface immune response.
Dr. Menon is the Principal Investigator of many large active research grants, serves on several international committees, organizes numerous scientific meetings throughout the world, is an invited speaker at global conferences, and publishes his work in high impact, peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Menon is the inventor on two patents and is leading groundbreaking research studies using electrophysiological methods for investigating the role of feto-maternal barriers.
Dr. David Nelson
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Dr. David Nelson, a thought leader in therapeutic development and cell and gene therapies, is currently the CEO of Splash Pharmaceuticals as well as the President of Life Science Group. Dr. Nelson did his Ph.D. training at the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Minnesota before completing his fellowship at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health in the Clinical Gene Therapy Branch.
Dr. Nelson has over 30 years of scientific and management experience in the biopharmaceutical and diagnostic industries. His previous positions include CSO of Provista Diagnostics, President and CEO of Santech (sold to American Specialty Health), Founder and CEO of Epic Sciences, Chairman of the Board of Clarity Foundation, and VP Business Development of Amalyte Pharmaceuticals (sold to Kemin Pharma). Prior to that, Dr. Nelson held research and corporate positions at Anadys Pharmaceuticals (sold to Novartis) and Aurora Biosciences (sold to Vertex Pharmaceuticals), and 3M.
Dr. Nelson has overseen the clinical and commercial development of several therapeutic assets and has had many Small Business Innovative Research grants, peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, patents granted, and speaker invitations.
Darius Rackus, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Dr. Rackus established the Miniaturization in Bioanalysis Laboratory in 2021, located in the Institute for Biomedical Science, Engineering & Technology, a partnership between Toronto Metropolitan University and St. Michael’s Hospital. His research program focuses on the development of microfluidic tools for human health, spanning areas from point-of-care diagnostics, to biomedical research, to tools for environmental analysis.
Prior to joining TMU, Rackus was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zürich, Switzerland. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Toronto.
Swaminathan Rajaraman, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Dr. Rajaraman received his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) respectively. He is a tenured academic and a successful entrepreneur. He is an Associate Professor in the NanoScience Technology Center and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL). He runs a very interdisciplinary group composed on Electrical Engineers, Biomedical Scientists, Material Scientists, Mechanical Engineers and Chemists. His current research interests include in-vitro and in-vivo Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs), micro/nanofabrication, micro/nanofabrication on novel, biological substrates, microneedles, agricultural microsystems, microfluidic devices, multimodal cell-based nanosensors, 3D printing and implantable Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices.
Prior to his academic appointment, he has worked in the MEMS industry and co-founded Axion BioSystems Inc. (Atlanta, GA), a world-leader in high-throughput Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs) and MEA systems. After 13 years of operation, in July 2021, Axion was successfully acquired by the Swedish Private Equity Firm, Summa Equity. In December 2020, he co-founded his second company, Primordia BioSystems Inc. to commercialize concepts from his UCF research group. He has published more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conferences and holds 32 patents and applications. He has raised close to $16 Million in funding for his research and product development activities at Axion, Primordia, and at UCF.
