H Scott Griggs
Director
ALS
Scott Griggs is responsible for the ALS food testing laboratories in the USA. ALS is a market leader in food testing with over 50 strategically located food laboratories worldwide. ALS specializes in molecular biology with the latest RT-PCR, ELISA and Maldi-TOF based services. ALS’ rapid pathogen detection systems provide highly efficient assays for the detection of allergens, Salmonella, Listeria or E. coli O157 in food and environmental samples.
Scott graduated from Michigan Technological University with a Bachelor of Science degree and completed the Pulp and Paper Science Program. Scott has over 40 years of experience in the pulp and paper industry and the testing, inspection and certification industry. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Food Sciences section of the American Council of Independent Laboratories.
Andy Muirhead
Company Microbiologist, Food & Pharmaceutical
ALS UK
After graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University with a B.Sc. in the biological sciences, Andy Muirhead joined the Leeds Regional Public Health Laboratory in 1980, and obtained a fellowship in the biomedical sciences in 1985. In 1987, he founded and ran an independent food contract laboratory based in Leeds until it was acquired by Eclipse Scientific Limited in 2011. Andy was then appointed as the UK Company Microbiologist.
Nevin Perera
Research & Development Manager
PerkinElmer
Nevin began his career as a senior scientist with Merck Millipore where he developed novel radiometric and homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence lipid kinase assays as well as chemiluminescent ELISA-based assays for ubiquitin ligases. He also served as an R&D team leader at Mediwatch Plc. where he developed novel lateral flow point-of-care immunoassays for urological markers. In his current role, he and his team have developed a range of ELISA immunoassays including Solus One Salmonella and Solus One Listeria. He received a B.Sc. (Hons) in microbiology, an M.Sc. in toxicology, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
(Moderator) Barbara VanRenterghem, Ph.D.
Editorial Director
Food Safety Magazine
Barbara VanRenterghem, Ph.D., is the editorial director of Food Safety Magazine, a position she has held since 2008. From 2005–2008, she was the chief editor of Controlled Environments Magazine and the science editor of Animal Lab News and Lab Manager Magazine at Vicon Publishing. At Eaton Publishing (1999–2005), she rose from the positions of assistant scientific editor for BioTechniques and acquisitions editor for BioTechniques Press to the editor of content development and acquisitions and director of commercial product development. While at Eaton (then acquired by Informa), she served as the chief editor of Preclinica. She received a B.Sc. in biology in 1989 from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 1994 from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.