THE TEAM
KATIE PETTINGER, MBA
CEO, CO-FOUNDER
Email: katie@gadusollabs.com
Katie Pettinger has a decade of experience with technology commercialization, working with researchers to bring their innovations to market. In addition to her role at Gadusol Laboratories, she helps Oregon State University researchers launch technology-based startup companies. Her past experience has included technology scouting for an investment organization and several years of experience working in technology transfer and business development at the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, where she held leadership roles and worked to move inventions out of the lab and into the marketplace. Katie also served as Vice President of Operations for an entrepreneurship training nonprofit. She holds an MBA with a focus in technology commercialization from Oregon State University.
DR. ALAN BAKALINSKY
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, CO-FOUNDER
Email: alan@gadusollabs.com
Dr. Bakalinsky serves as Director of Research at Gadusol Laboratories. He most recently was an Associate Professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology at Oregon State University. He is also Adjunct Associate Professor in the Departments of Microbiology and Biochemistry/Biophysics at Oregon State University. Dr. Bakalinsky’s research focuses on the physiology of yeast fermentation. He has published 45 peer-reviewed articles, including a recent eLife paper that describes the discovery of the gadusol biosynthetic gene cluster and its heterologous expression in yeast. His early work focused on a widely-exploited but poorly understood trait of wine strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae—resistance to sulfite. His genetic and molecular genetic analysis discovered a novel sulfite efflux pump and a control mechanism that accounted for the resistance. His more recent work has focused on cellulosic ethanol and the physiology of acid stress. His key contribution was documenting a general sensitivity towards acid stress shared by auxotrophs which explains why repeated screens of widely-used mutant libraries have not generated highly-resistant strains.
DR. TAIFO MAHMUD
CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR
Email: taifo@gadusollabs.com
Dr. Mahmud is a Professor in the College of Pharmacy and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Oregon State University. His group discovered the genes responsible for the production of gadusol in fish and other vertebrates, and collaborates closely with the Gadusol Labs team. Dr. Mahmud brings over 25 years experience working on natural products chemistry and biosynthesis. Prior to working at OSU, he was a Research Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. from Osaka University, and his Apothecary and B.S. from the University of North Sumatra. Dr. Mahmud’s research interests are broadly in bioorganic and natural products chemistry; biosynthesis of microbial secondary metabolites; and the interface of molecular genetics, enzymology, and chemistry to create and develop novel pharmaceutically active leads.
DR. KHALED ALMABRUK
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, SENIOR SCIENTIST
Email: khaled@gadusollabs.com
Dr. Almabruk received his PhD and M.Sc from Oregon State University in Medicinal and Natural Product Discovery. Prior to joining Gadusol Laboratories, Dr. Almabruk spent 18 months as postdoctoral research associate at Dr. Philmus lab in the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University. His PhD and postdoctoral research was focusing on the discovery of new natural products using synthetic and genetic approaches. His research interests are organic synthesis; biosynthesis of microbial natural products; and characterization of key proteins involved in
biosynthesis of natural products. Dr. Almabruk has published 10 peer-reviewed articles, one of which was the discovery of genes involved in gadusol biosynthesis.
NATHAN ALEXANDER
INTERN
Email: nathan@gadusollabs.com
Nathan Alexander is a Biochemistry and Biophysics undergraduate at Oregon State University. After nearly 10 years in service with an Oregon nonprofit, he is now pursuing a career in research. In his senior year, he plans on continuing through graduate school to contribute to the science of healthy aging. As part of his internship, Nathan is collecting and purifying the compound gadusol.
ATCHARA SRIPENG
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Email: atchara@gadusollabs.com
Atchara Sripeng is a recent graduate of Linfield College. She holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. As an intern during her undergraduate studies, she worked on research synthesizing small molecule inhibitors to determine possible use as a research tool in cancer studies. She works closely with Drs. Almabruk and Bakalinsky to optimize the gadusol production process.