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| J. Mark Weber, Ph.D., President
Roy K.A. Wesley, Ph.D., O.D., Chief Financial Officer
William Cernota, BA, Research Scientist
Igor Brikun, Ph.D., Senior Investigator
 
J. Mark Weber, Ph.D., President
mark.weber@fermalogic.com
Dr. Weber is President of Fermalogic, which he founded in 1991.
In recognition for his innovative work at Fermalogic, Dr. Weber
received the Tibbetts Award presented by Small Business
Administration for individuals and companies engaged in research funded
by the Small Business Innovation Research program. He has also been
awarded seven patents in the areas of metabolic engineering and
industrial microbiology. Also among his awards is the Abbott
Laboratories President's award, and in 1996 he was inducted into the
"Illinois Small Business 100". At the Chicago Technology Park Research
Center he founded the Tenants Forum and served as Chairman of the board
for three years, helping to bring the Research Center into national
prominence, through outreach programs to the academic and business
communities.
Prior to founding Fermalogic, Dr. Weber was a senior scientist at
Abbott Laboratories where he conducted strain improvement research on
the erythromycin-producing bacterium Saccharopolyspora erythraea.
While at Abbott, Dr. Weber developed a breakthrough technique that
utilized genetic engineering to incorporate acid stability into the
erythromycin molecule, something that couldn't be done by using
conventional chemical techniques. Dr. Weber was also a National
Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University in
Richard Losick's laboratory in the Department of Cellular and
Developmental Biology. He began his graduate training in David
Perlman's laboratory. Professor Perlman was renowned in the field
industrial microbiology. His graduate work was also conducted in C.
Richard Hutchinson's laboratory where he was awarded a pre-doctoral
fellowship by the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education. His
undergraduate education was at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where
he majored in Biology.
Dr. Weber is a member of numerous industry groups for which he has
presented Fermalogic's research, including the Society of Industrial
Microbiology and the American Society of Microbiology. He has published
more than a dozen peer-reviewed scientific papers on industrial
microbiology and metabolic engineering and new drug development.
As Fermalogic pursues its mission to be a leader in the development and
implementation of strain improvement technology, Dr. Weber brings a
valuable blend of innovation and industry experience.
Roy K.A. Wesley, Ph.D., O.D., Chief Financial Officer
roy.wesley@fermalogic.com
Roy
joined Fermalogic in 1991 as chief financial officer and business
development manager. He is responsible for daily operations,
accounting, grant administration, and human resources. Additionally, he
assists with laboratory work, reviews scientific papers and manages the
patent application process, including the application for Fermalogic's
patent-pending FermaChannelingSM technology.
Prior to joining Fermalogic, Dr. Wesley was the President and Clinic
Director of the National Eye Research Foundation. Previously, he was
Clinic Director at Wesley-Jessen, Inc., a contact lens manufacturer
which was acquired by Schering Plough and is now a part of Novartis.
Dr. Wesley began his scientific career as a Senior Research
Investigator at Pfizer, Inc. leading contract research projects for the
National Cancer Institute in virology. He later helped establish the
first chemical carcinogenesis laboratory for Pfizer Central Research in
Groton, Connecticut.
He is a speaker at industry events and academic institutions and also
consults with biotechnology companies in grant administration and
financial management.
Dr. Wesley received his Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the
City University of New York and M.S. in cell biology from Wayne State
University. Dr. Wesley also holds an O.D. degree from New England
College of Optometry, Boston, MA.
William Cernota, BA, Research Scientist
william.cernota@fermalogic.com
William Cernota joined Fermalogic in 1998 as a research scientist where
his main focus has been on fermentation process development. Mr.
Cernota has worked on fermentation processes from the microfermentation
level to benchtop stirred-jar fermenters. He has also been actively
involved in the chemical analysis of fermentation products. Mr.
Cernota's research is supported by National Institutes of Health grants
and contracts from corporate clients. He has been involved in
antibiotic process development and isoflavone production as a
value-added byproduct of antibiotic manufacturing. From 1999 to 2001 he
worked on a strain improvement project for Novartis.
Mr. Cernota has a patent pending for a metabolic engineering process to
improve production of natural products. He is a member of the Society
for Industrial Microbiology and has participated along with Fermalogic
colleagues in the presentation of posters at annual meetings. He has
contributed to three Fermalogic papers.
Prior to joining Fermalogic, Mr. Cernota was a graduate
teaching and research assistant in the Molecular Genetics Laboratory at
the University of Illinois at Chicago where he worked on the cloning
and characterization of satellite DNA in Dipteran insects. He also
served as Coordinator of the Undergraduate Genetics Laboratory.
Additionally, Mr. Cernota has taught junior high school science and
served three years in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa
where he taught advanced level biology and general science and
conducted field research in the areas of botany and ecology. In
addition, Mr. Cernota is an accomplished cellist with the Lyric Opera
of Chicago Orchestra and has been an instructor of music at the DePaul
University School of Music and has directed music and band programs.
Mr. Cernota completed M.S. studies in biology with a concentration in
molecular genetics at the University of Illinois at Chicago and
received B.A. degrees in both biology and philosophy from the
University of Chicago.
Igor Brikun, Ph.D., Senior Investigator
Igor.brikun@fermalogic.com
Igor Brikun joined Fermalogic in 2001 as a Senior Investigator. He was
instrumental in developing Fermalogic's patent-pending FermaChannelingSM technology, for strain improvement of Aeromicrobium erythreum,
an erythromycin-producing bacterium. He works concurrently as a senior
scientist and principal investigator on numerous National Institutes of
Health-funded research projects relating to metabolic engineering,
industrial microbiology and economical isoflavone production. Dr.
Brikun has been awarded one patent and has four patents pending.
Previously, Dr. Brikun was a group leader at Thermogen, an
Illinois-based developer of industrial enzymes and proteins. Prior to
that he was a research associate at the Washington University School of
Medicine, Department of Molecular Biology. He was also a fellow in the
Institute of Biochemistry, part of the Hungarian Academy of Science,
and was a research associate at the All Union Institute of Genetics and
Selection of Industrial Microorganisms in Moscow. Dr. Brikun has also
completed contract work for Monsanto in the United States, for Amano in
Japan and for Degussa in Germany. He has published more than a dozen
scientific papers about genetic engineering and DNA.
Dr. Brikun earned a Ph.D. and an M.S in microbial genetics at
the All Union Institute of Genetics and Selection of Microorganisms in
Moscow and at Moscow State University, respectively.
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