Staying Ahead of Viral Variants: Surveillance Solutions for SARS-CoV-2

Vanessa Lacey
Role: Staff Scientist, Molecular Biology
Organization: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Location: USA

Responding to SARS-CoV-2 variants - Detection and Surveillance
Vanessa Lacey, is a Staff Scientist, Molecular Biology at Thermo Fisher Scientific with a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Cornell University. Vanessa has extensive experience in the development of IVDs and field service support; auditing of Quality Management Systems (EN ISO 13485), medical devices (MDD/MDR), and IVDs (IVDD/IVDR) for notified bodies; and research experience in molecular biology, protein engineering, and chemical biology. In her current role, Vanessa acts as a liaison between Research & Development and Marketing to support customers of molecular diagnostic assays and instruments.

Jelena Feenstra
Role: Senior Manager, Global Scientific Communications
Organization: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Location: USA

Responding to SARS-CoV-2 variants - Detection and Surveillance
Jelena Feenstra, is a Senior Manager, Global Scientific Communications at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Jelena has extensive diagnostic and research experience in genetics, cytogenetics and genomics. She has a PhD in experimental Oncology from the Medical University of Vienna, and has previously worked as a Senior Scientist at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna. Jelena is author of over 25 publications and a recipient of several awards from professional organizations such as the American Society of Hematology (ASH) as well as the UNESCO Fellowship for Women in Science. In her current role Jelena is responsible for driving Medical and Scientific Affairs activities mainly in EMEA and works closely with the Global Market Development teams to help democratize molecular testing globally.

Yvonne Lin
Role: Product Manager, Ion Torrent NGS consumables, Infectious Disease Applications
Organization: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Location: USA

Fast confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 variants with NGS
Yvonne Lin is the product manager of Ion Torrent NGS consumables at Thermo Fisher Scientific, focusing on infectious disease applications.  Prior to joining Thermo Fisher Scientific,  Yvonne led product development on CRISPR knock-out library screens in drug discovery as well as launched synthetic GMP CRISPR sgRNA probes to help accelerate cell and gene therapy applications at Synthego. Before going into product, Yvonne has also published research on adeno-associated virus as a gene-based therapy for retinal degenerative diseases while working at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at her alma mater, University of California, Berkeley. 

Christopher Ng
Role: Regional Technical Sales Specialist, Genetic Testing Solutions
Organization: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Location: Singapore

Wastewater Testing and Air Monitoring - What's Next?

Prior to joining Genetic Testing Solutions (GTS) as Technical Sales, Christopher served as Field Application Scientist covering a spectrum of portfolios including reproductive health (SNP Microarray), COVID-19 testing (Real-time PCR) and NGS. He has more than 7 years of experience clinical molecular diagnostics (Infectious diseases, haematology-oncology etc.), translational research and published more than 15 original, peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings.