About Us

About Nirvana Science

Families of Dyes

NIRvana Sciences is commercializing two families of dyes developed at NC State University: chlorins and bacteriochlorins. Chlorins have a violet excitation and emit between 600-725nm and we’re working on ways to extend emissions out to 800nm. Our bacteriochlorins usually have a peak absorption in the ultra violet region with emissions between 685nm-900nm.

If you would like to learn more about our Chlorin dyes, feel free to review this helpful journal article:
Synthetic Chlorins Bearing Auxochromes at the 3- and 13-Positions by Joydev K. Laha, Chinnasamy Muthiah, Masahiko Taniguchi, Brian E. McDowell, Marcin Ptaszek, and Jonathan Lindsey DOI: 10.1021/jo060208o

If you would like to learn more about our Bacteriochlorin dyes, feel free to review this helpful journal article:
Accessing the near-infrared spectral region with stable, synthetic, wavelength-tunable bacteriochlorins, by Masahiko Taniguchi, David L. Cramer, Anil D. Bhise, Hooi Ling Kee, David F. Bocian,* Dewey Holten* and Jonathan S. Lindsey DOI: 10.1039/b717803d

Team

Our team of professionals

Board of Directors

Lisa Cooper
Board Member
Lisa is owner and SVP of PMI Ash Technologies, LLC a clean-tech company located in Cary, North Carolina and her many responsibilities include managing the firm’s extensive IP portfolio.
Rich West
Chairman
Rich is founder and CEO of Baebies, Inc., a new company focused on newborn screening. Previously, Rich was CEO of Advanced Liquid Logic which was acquired by Illumina for $96 million in 2013.
Wayne Brinster
Board Member
Wayne Brinster is the CEO of Wheaton Industries. Previously, Wayne was the Vice President / General Manager of Women’s Health and Cancer at Becton, Dickinson and Company.




Management and Development Team

Russell D. Thomas
Chief Executive Officer
Russell is a second time start up CEO whose first venture involved commercializing a fluorescent dye analytical instrument. Prior to pursuing NIRvana Sciences, he was Director, New Ventures at NC State University.
Christopher J. MacNevin
Chief Operating Officer
Chris has designed and synthesized many fluorescent dyes for chemical, biology and microscopy applications. He earned his Ph.D. from Emory University and completed a post-doc at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Bruce Pitner
Chief Scientific Officer
Bruce Pitner has more than 20 years of industry experience commercializing technologies and leading research efforts in organic chemistry, fluorescence, and immunochemistry. Prior to NIRvana Sciences he was a Senior Scientist with Becton Dickinson Technologies.
Petra Weishaupt-Smith
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer. Petra has strong experience managing the finances of early stage life science and tech companies.
Mary Ribando
Accounting
Mary’s financial and accounting background includes 18 years experience with the Southern Growth Policy Board where she oversaw daily accounting and administrative activities.
Joshua Akhigbe
Principal Investigator & Senior Scientist
Joshua finished his post-doctural research fellowship at the Ptaszek Lab at the University of Maryland - Baltimore County. Prior to UMBC, he completed his PhD at the University of Connecticut. He brings significant expertise in synthesizing chlorin an bacteriochlorin dyes.
Michael Gorczynski
Sr. Scientist
Michael finished his post-doctural research fellowship at Wake Forest University. Prior to WFU, he completed his PhD at the University of Virginia. He brings significant experience in small molecule synthesis.
Su Yang, PH.D.
Scientist
Su is a polymer chemist experienced in a variety of synthetic techniques and biological applications. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Texas in Arlington.
Mateusz Olszewski, PH.D.
Scientist
Mateusz is a polymer chemist experienced in a variety of synthetic techniques and applications. He earned his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University.




University Scientific Team

Dr. Masahiko Taniguchi
Scientific Team
Dr. Masahiko Taniguchi is a research associate professor at NC State University. Beyond his research, he maintains a database of over 3,000 papers seminal to chlorins, porphyrins, and bacteriochlorins.
Dr. Jonathan Lindsey
Scientific Team
Dr. Jonathan Lindsey is Glaxo Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at NC State University. His research involves synthetic chemistry of the “pigments of life” with applications in artificial photosynthesis and the life sciences.
Dr. Dewey Holten
Scientific Team
Dr. Dewey Holten is a Professor of Chemistry, at Washington University in St. Louis . His research group is advancing the electronic and photophysical properties of tetrapyrolle chromophores for solar-energy and life science applications.
Dr. David Bocian
Scientific Team
Dr. David Bocian is Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, at the University of California, Riverside. His research interests involve photosynthetic proteins, synthetic light-harvesting arrays, and molecular photonics devices.




Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Matthew Snyder
Advisor Member
Dr. Matthew Snyder is a pathologist at WakeMed. Dr. Snyder uses flow cytometry data daily to make clinical diagnoses and intimately understands the value of improving this data, and he has served on committees that set standards and certify the operations of commercial flow cytometry laboratories.
Dr. Ram Ramabhadran
Advisor Member
Dr. Ram Ramabhadran is former Vice President of R&D at Tranzyme Pharma and has been recruited onto the team for his expertise in molecular biology and light physics.
Dr. Nancy Fisher
Advisor Member
Dr. Nancy Fisher is Director, of the Flow Cytometry Core Facility at University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. There she directs a team of scientists and flow cytometrists who operate four analytic cytometers and four cell sorters.

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919.354.1053

7020 Kit Creek Road, Suite 230 Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709 USA