Scientific Advisory Board
James D. Talton, Ph.D., is the President, Chairman and CEO of TRON Group Inc. (OTC:TGRP), Nanopharmaceutics, Inc. (subsidiary) and Alchem Laboratories Corporation (Subsidiary). Dr. Talton previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Nanotherapeutics, Inc. for seventeen years. He also serves on the Alumni Advisory Board for the University of Florida Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Dr. Talton has developed multiple clinical-stage products as well as NanoFUSE® DBM, a sterile, FDA-cleared (K062459) easy-to-reconstitute bone graft. Leading multiple successful government programs, Dr. Talton has successfully won over $1 billion in contracts with government partners including NIH, DOD, and BARDA. Dr. Talton is an inventor on thirteen U.S. patents and has authored several peer-reviewed publications and book chapters involved in drug delivery systems with a primary focus in drug analysis and controlled release formulations, pharmacokinetics, and pulmonary drug delivery. Dr. Talton received his B.S. and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Florida.
Chris Deigl, M.S., is Alchem's Director of Quality Assurance. Prior to joining Alchem in 2021, Chris enjoyed 16 years at SynQuest Laboratories, Inc., ultimately serving as their Director of Quality. While at SynQuest, Chris worked diligently with internal and external customers to ensure compliance, all while promoting a culture of goodwill and proaction. Chris also built an independent QC lab, served on the Executive Management Team, and implemented an ISO 9001:2015 conforming quality management system. He earned both his B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida.
Becky Hood, BA., is Alchem’s Director of Discovery overseeing assay development and high throughput screening (HTS). Her background covers more than 30 years in science with extensive work in the areas of assay development and high throughput screening. Prior to joining Alchem in 2018, Becky worked in the HTS lab at Sanford Burnham Research Institute in Orlando, Florida where she contributed successfully to more than 40 projects developing assays and running screens. Before her work at Sanford Burnham, she worked briefly at Millipore in St. Charles, Mo. where her work yielded two commercial products - Human Immunoglobulin IgE Single Plex Magnetic Bead Kit and the Human Immunoglobulin Isotyping Magnetic Bead Panel. Before her work at Millipore, Becky thrived for 13 years at Pfizer/Pharmacia/Monsanto in Chesterfield, MO developing assays and running high-throughput screens for multiple projects teams. Along with the impact on these project teams, Becky contributed to the community through various outreach programs as well as being recognized as a mentor for junior scientists. Prior to Pfizer, Becky worked on a bacterial dental project at University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO, and on several mammalian viral projects at Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, MO. Her work produced 15 peer reviewed publications.
Otto Geoffroy, Ph.D. is Alchem's Director of Research. He is responsible for most laboratory-scale synthetic projects. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Tulane University in 1992. Following this he was an NIH post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (1992-1994) and a post-doctoral fellow at the Hollings Cancer Center (1995-2000). Dr. Geoffroy joined Alchem in 2001 as a Senior Scientist and Group Leader. He was promoted to Director of Research in 2009.
Sergiy Denysenko, Ph.D. is Alchem's Director of Manufacturing. He oversees the scale-up laboratory and GMP manufacturing projects. Sergiy joined Alchem in 2001 as a Senior Research Scientist and was promoted to Principal Research Scientist in 2004 before becoming Director of Development in 2009. He received his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from Moscow State University in 1985. Following this he was Associate Professor at the Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology (1985-1996) and a Postdoctoral Fellow and Senior Group Leader with Professor Alan Katritzky's research group at the University of Florida (1996-2001).
Vladimir Rudchenko, Ph.D. is Alchem's Technical Director. His extensive background spans more than three decades in research and industry. Dr. Rudchenko joined Alchem in 2001 and provides technical direction to both the Research and the Development groups. His academic credentials include D.Sc. in organic chemistry (Institute of Organic Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 1986), Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry (Institute of Organic Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 1977), and B.Sc. (with Distinction) in chemical engineering (Institute of Chemical Technology, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, 1973). Dr. Rudchenko is an author of 13 patents and over 70 publications.
Jing Yang, Ph.D. is Alchem's Director of Quality Control. She received her undergraduate training in analytical chemistry at Shanghai University and a Ph.D in organometallic chemistry from the University of Florida. Joining Alchem in 1999 Dr. Yang was first responsible for API synthesis and process development and was promoted in 2001 to Group Leader for process development and GMP manufacturing of late-stage-experimental products. She was appointed to her current position in 2006.
Masi Rajabi, Ph.D. is Alchem's Director of Drug Product Manufacturing. She joined Alchem in 2016 as a Quality Consultant and brings in two decades of experience as a seasoned Molecular Microbiologist, Quality and Operations lead, Sterility Assurance and Aseptic Processing expert and has served the food, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries with their RD/ GMP needs. She received her Ph.D in 2005 from University of Florida and has worked with several start up companies, in addition to partnering with well established and international biopharmaceuticals such as Bausch Health, Nephron, Nanotherapeutics, and ABC Research Corp. She has also been a consultant in the areas of QC and manufacturing space design, set up and expansion projects, training and management, and inspection and audits.
Judy Talton, MS, ARNP, is the Chief Clinical Officer and acting Chief Financial Officer at Nanopharmaceutics. Ms. Talton is also the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Alchem Laboratories Corporation (affiliate). Ms. Talton received her MS in Nursing in 2009 from University of Florida. Prior to her career at Alchem, Judy had positions in hospitals, private practice, clinical research, real estate, marketing, and business management.
Gideon Shapiro, Ph.D. has 35-years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with record of achievement in drug discovery, development and drug program management. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. He completed postdoctoral research at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland and advanced to manage CNS drug discovery at Sandoz/Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Basel, Switzerland where he developed M1 agonist clinical compound SDZ-163 for Alzheimer’s disease. In 1998, he co-founded the Novartis Venture diagnostics company EraGen Biosciences in the US which was ultimately sold to Luminex in 2011. After EraGen he founded and acted as CSO of Somatocor Pharmaceuticals developing peptidomimetics of the marketed octreotide drug Sandostatin®. Subsequently, he acted as VP of Chemistry at Fidelity neuroscience venture company EnVivo Pharmaceuticals where he co-invented and participated in the development of numerous clinical candidates including Encenicline which was advanced to Phase 3 clinical trials in Alzheimer’s Disease and Schizophrenia.
Jeffrey S. Thinschmidt, M.A. is a Senior Biological Scientist at the University of Florida. He has an extensive publication record and background in CNS electrophysiology with expertise in preparation of live brain slices for electrophysiological recording and whole-cell patch clamp recording in brain slices. Masters degree included training as an electrophysiologist and neuroanatomist studying brainstem modulation of the hippocampus (Dr. Robert Vertes), He then joined the neuroscience department at the University of Florida (Dr. Don Walker) studying electrophysiological, anatomical, and behavioral effects of chronic ethanol consumption. Other work includes biophysical, cell biological, and pharmacological studies of alpha-7 subtype nicotinic receptors (Dr. Roger Papke) as well as thorough analysis of hippocampal bidirectional, short- and long-term synaptic plasticity across the adult life span in the rat (Dr. Mike King).
Steve Vasile, Ph.D. was Director of Discovery at Alchem from 2018 to 2024 supporting assay development and high throughput screening (HTS). He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo’s Roswell Park Cancer Institute division in 1993. Dr. Vasile has over 25 years of experience in the HTS field, with significant experience with multiple assay formats and with diverse screening laboratory instrumentation and automation. Dr. Vasile was recruited in 2018 from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute where he was Director of HTS for their Orlando, FL site. Prior to SBP he was at Sugen Inc./Pharmacia/Pfizer. At Sugen his team helped to discover Sutent, an FDA-approved drug for renal cell carcinoma, Gleevec resistant GIST and advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
