Associate Director Engineering Team

MICHAEL NGUYEN

****.******@*****.*** cell:408-***-****

EXPERIENCE

San Diego Biotech, San Diego, CA

Consultant Scientist/ Engineer (01/14-present)

● Technology evaluation of Invitro Diagnostic, point of care, instrumentation; summarized technology and methodologies of competing platforms

● Developed NGS assays for cancer diagnostics and optimized MiSeq assay

● Industrial design and human factors testing of cartridges, consumables, and benchtop instruments

Exokeryx, San Diego, CA

Head of Instrumentation (05/22-08/24)

● Design injection molded cartridge with integrated valves for purification of Exosomes by DEP (dielectrophoresis)

● Design, fabricate, build, and maintain prototype instrumentation

● Manage engineering team, establish external partners for production scale-up Roswell Biotechnologies, San Diego, CA

VP System Integration, Head of Instrument Engineering (09/21-04/22)

● Manage external engineering firms for instrument and disposable development

● Design, build, and test microfluidic interface to Molecular Electronics Chip

● Thermal subassembly design and testing

● Produce timelines for internal use instruments and external collaborations Juno Diagnostics, San Diego, CA

Principal Engineer, Head of Engineering (10/18-08/23)

● Development of novel, low-volume, high efficiency, disposable plasma separation device for NIPT sample processing

● Fluidic and mechanical design, fabrication and testing

● Design, fabrication, and testing of prototype device for point-of-care plasma separation, DNA extraction, amplification, and detection

● Rapid prototyping through combination of 3D printing, CNC, and laser cutting

● Manage projects with external engineering and manufacturing firms for high volume injection molding

Plexium, San Diego, CA

Associate Director Product Development (3/18-10/18)

● Encoding and decoding methodology for DNA encoded chemical Libraries

● Sequencing chemistry and instrument design, development, and testing Omniome (now PacBio), San Diego, CA

Associate Director of Fluidics, Senior Scientist, Mechanical Engineer (05/15-03/18)

● Developed novel DNA clustering method and library construction techniques

● Optimized fluorescently labeled and label-free (SPRi) DNA sequencing strategies

● Mechanical and fluidic design of multi-channel sequencing research instruments

● Designed and constructed portable sequencing instrument

● Managed cross functional engineering team responsible for fluidic architecture, system integration, mechanical and electrical design, firmware and software development, assembly, testing, and instrument maintenance Alere (Abbott), San Diego, CA

Research Scientist II (07/12-01/14)

● Developed and optimized lyophilization methods and formulations

● Designed primers for proprietary nucleic acid amplification techniques

● Defined and tested multiplexing methodologies for nucleic acid amplification

● Developed cell lysis technique

● Developed and optimized novel method for rapid DNA capture and concentration Illumina (formerly Helixis), San Diego, CA

Scientist (9/08-12/11)

● Developed integrated template enrichment strategy and process for sequencing

● Optimized library prep assay for targeted sequencing

● Developed and tested prototype platform for sample purification, amplification, and analysis

● Modified DNA purification routine on automated system to perform DNA purification for multiple application including infectious disease assays, lysis system performance, and production of qPCR evaluation plate

● Examined dye deconvolution algorithm, evaluated and adjusted dye calibration methodologies and process

● Characterized and modified optical sub-assembly of qPCR instrument for use in applied markets

● Performed qPCR, PCR, RT-PCR, cell lysis, cell staining, DNA and RNA purification assays, examined results, reviewed data, and presented findings

● Programmed and operated liquid handling robot

● Developed accelerated life test for thermal sub-assembly

● Collaborated with vendor to develop gold plating process Microchip Biotechnologies Incorporated (IntegenX, now Thermo Fisher), Dublin, CA Scientist, Consultant (9/06-2/09)

● Designed system to fully integrate DNA extraction, purification, amplification, separation and detection

● Optimized DNA cycle sequencing and magnetic bead clean-up on microfluidic device, integrated process onto robotic platform

● Programmed and operated Tecan liquid handling robot

● Designed microfluidic devices using AutoCAD and parts using SolidWorks

● Optimized DNA sample injection for on chip electrophoresis

● Trained lab personnel and wrote SOP’s

● Extracted DNA samples for STR reactions, purified and analyzed products

● Designed parts and developed methods for human forensics instruments.

● Developed, constructed, and optimized novel method to interface microfluidic chip to capillaries for DNA electrophoresis

Predicant Biosciences, South San Francisco, CA

Manufacturing Development Engineer II, Consultant (4/04-2/06)

● Technical lead for collaboration project with outside vendor producing

● Designed, prototyped, and tested chips with incorporated ESI tips

● Designed fixture for surface treatment and loading of microfluidic chips

● Determined requirement and tested software for automated coating hardware

● Tested parts produced by collaborator, performed chip QC, wrote SOPs, analyzed data and determined the process window for various production steps

● Optimized CE-ESI-MS assay for greater sensitivity and reproducibility

● Performed and assisted in the development of the hardware, software, process for surface treatment of plastic microfluidic chips

● Developed assay to analyze coating efficiency and analyzed process with the use of fluorescence microscopy and performed stability study for polymer coating

● Installed and qualified new manufacturing equipment and materials

● Coordinated the production of prototype microfluidic chips Caliper Technologies (now PerkinElmer), Mountain View, CA Research Associate (03/02-02/04)

● Maintained and repaired lab equipment, trained assay group on instrument use

● Upgraded and repaired hardware for prototype instruments

● Programmed development software for DNA and Protein detection system

● Developed and optimized DNA and immunodiagnostic assays

● Constructed labeled internal standard and ladder for DNA assay

● Designed PCR primers

● Developed non-destructive QC testing protocol for microfluidic chip

● Examined and validated design for chip packaging

● Developed decontamination protocol for reusable microfluidic chip

● Performed stability studies and validation on assay reagents Molecular Dynamics (now GE Healthcare), Sunnyvale, CA Contract Research Associate (09/00-11/01)

● Developed fluorescent standard for instrument QC

● Analyzed optical filters, mirrors, and lenses

● Repaired machines, aligned optics and lasers, validated design

● Assisted in development of a high performance laser scanning system and densitometer validation tray

● Tested laser power, laser stability, and efficiency of fiber optic coupling

● Wrote applications notes for laser based fluorescence detection system

● Trained technical support and sales groups

● Performed marketing research and produced marketing material

● Developed QC protocols for incoming parts and manufacturing PATENTS

7,749,365: OPTIMIZED SAMPLE INJECTION STRUCTURES IN MICROFLUIDIC SEPARATIONS

8,557,518: MICROFLUIDIC AND NANOFLUIDIC DEVICES SYSTEMS, AND APPLICATIONS

8,672,532: MICROFLUIDIC METHODS

8,748,165: METHODS FOR GENERATING SHORT TANDEM REPEAT (STR) PROFILES

9,932,631: GENOTYPING BY POLYMERASE BINDING

10,253,352: METHODS FOR DETERMINING SEQUENCE PROFILES 10,584,375: GENOTYPING BY POLYMERASE BINDING

10,975,424: GENOTYPING BY POLYMERASE BINDING

10,975,427: PROCESS FOR COGNATE NUCLEOTIDE DETECTION IN A NUCLEIC ACID SEQUENCING WORKFLOW

10,981,170: OLIGONUCLEOTIDE ENCODED CHEMICAL LIBRARIES EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry

University of California, Davis

Contact this candidate