Dave Alburty, Chief Executive Officer, InnovaPrep

Mr. Alburty has over twenty-five years’ experience in the Biodefense and Aerosol Research Industry. Beginning at Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Kansas City his work as a staff research scientist centered on aerosol studies in environmental and biodefense applications. After serving fifteen years at MRI, Dave founded an aerosol science and engineering R&D test and evaluation/product development lab in Drexel Missouri. The Lab offered third party validation to developers of many large-scale Homeland Security and Department of Defense projects as well as various commercial products. Through his work in the biodefense industry, Dave recognized a missing technology between bio-collection and rapid biodetection/identification. That link is the advancement of sample preparation and biological concentration technologies. Through internal research and development projects at his lab, The InnovaPrep System was developed to fulfill that need. InnovaPrep LLC was subsequently launched in June 2009 as a manufacturer and integrator of biological sampling and concentration systems and solutions.

James Brayer, Associate Director, Market Development, Oxford Nanopore Technologies

James Brayer is an Associate Director of Market Development at Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Inc. (ONT). He received his B.A. from Colby College. Mr. Brayer has over 30 years of cumulative experience in the Life Science and OMICS markets holding roles in market development, marketing, technical sales, scientific support and basic research. James has been a member of the ONT commercial team for 7 years. Led by his passion to help his customers utilize Oxford Nanopore’s ‘Nanopore Sensing’ technology, James is focused on building awareness through public speaking and engagement with customers on novel and existing applications. James had the privilege to work with NASA scientists on the Biomolecule Sequencer Project to send the first MinION to the International Space Station and perform the first ever NGS experiments in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). He loves to discuss this project with anyone interested to listen. He currently leads the ONT global market development team focusing on developing ONTs existing market segments and finding new market segments to utilize ONT’s nanopore sequencing platform.