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Dr. Arezou (Hope) Azarani, Ph.D.
Founder


Dr. Azarani has over 20 years of Life Sciences experience spanning the Academic/Government settings and the Biotech/Pharmaceutical industries.  She has extensive scientific, technical and market knowledge of the life sciences, drug discovery, and diagnostic fields. 
 

Dr. Azarani has comprehensive experience in tactical/strategic marketing, planning, budgeting, negotiation, business development, R&D, product development, product evaluation, applications development, patent development, manufacturing, QC/QA, international sales, and customer support. 
 

Dr. Azarani has many years of experience in building different departments and high performance cross-functional teams in multi-site operations. She has extensive experience in identifying and prioritizing resources necessary to execute plans, track performance and make reallocation decisions to maintain or improve the productivity of all departments and return on activities. She has driven revenue growth by diversifying product portfolio and developing many new business opportunities, strategic partnerships, co-marketing, licensing, OEMs, acquisitions, and joint ventures. Many of the companies she has worked for have sold for millions of dollars.


Dr. Azarani’s specific areas of scientific expertise are in the fields of physiology, biology, molecular biology, chemistry/biochemistry, genetics and proteomics. She has extensive experience in the areas of high-throughput automation technology/instrumentations, consumables (plastic and reagents), software & databases, assay development & miniaturization, genetic mapping/expression/analysis, sequencing, immunohistochemistry, protein chemistry/trafficking/sorting/analysis, crystallography, metalloproteases biochemistry, membrane biology, receptors, microarray production and technology, and hormone regulation. 



EDUCATIONAL HISTORY

Dr. Azarani has received her Ph.D. in Physiology from McGill University/Royal Victoria Hospital/Shriners Hospital (Canada), and postdoctoral degrees in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from University of Montreal (Canada) in collaboration with Roche Pharmaceuticals, and in Genetics from Stanford University/Howard Hughes Medical Institute (California). She has a B.S. in Chemistry/Biochemistry form Concordia University/Co-Operative Education (Canada). She has a Project Management certificate by CADENCE Management Corporation.



Dr. Azarani is fluent in English and French

 

GROUPS & ASSOCIATIONS

    • Biotech & Pharma Professionals Network
    • The Global Business Development Network
    • Business Analysts Globally
    • Global Executive Exchange
    • Executive Suite
    • Genomics and Proteomics
    • Cell and Molecular Biology
    • Laboratory Robotics Interest Group (LRIG)
    • Society for Biomolecular Sciences
    • Analytical Instruments Professional Network
    • Chromatography and Spectroscopy Exchange
    • Medical Device R & D, Regulatory and Quality Connections
    • Structural Biology
    • Imaging and Optics
    • BayBio
    • Startups and Entrepreneurs Get Funded
    • California Expert Witnesses
    • Expert Witness Network
    • Friends of the Forensic Expert Witness
    • Stanford University Alumni
    • McGill University Alumni


PUBLICATIONS

Dr. Azarani has over 100 peer reviewed scientific publications, abstracts, presentations, and many issued patents. She is a reviewer for the Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation (JALA). Examples are:

1.        Mouse Attractin homologs show functional compensation without redundancy, Genesis, 45 (12):744-756, 2007.
2.        High Throughput Protein Crystallography, JALA, 11: 7-15, 2006.
3.        Endometriosis: Insights into its pathogenesis and treatment, Surgical Technology International 12:178-81, 2004.
4.        Automated High-Throughput Protein Crystallization by the Use of Precision Glass Syringes, Non-contact Microsolenoid Dispensers, and Screening Plates, In press, Proteomics handbook, Humana Press, Chapter 27, 2004.
5.       DNA Sequencing Automation with the Rolling Circle Amplification Procedure Using Precision Glass Syringes in High Throughput Liquid Handling Systems; 40-fold Reduction in Amplification Reaction Volumes, BioTechniques 34:204-207, 2003.
6.        High Throughput RNA Purification with Ambion RNAqueous Kits on the Apogent Discoveries Tango Liquid Handling System, Genomics and Proteomics 3:51, 2003.
7.        The Use of Precision Glass Syringes and a Non-Contact Microsolenoid Dispenser for the Production of High Throughput Low Density Arrays, In press, Protein Arrays, Humana Press, Chapter 13, 2003.
8.        Setting Up High-Throughput, Low-Volume Sequencing and PCR Reactions Using an Automated System Equipped with Precision Glass Syringes and a Non-Contact Microsolenoid Dispenser, JALA 8:37-40, 2003.
9.        PCR Purification with the Whatman®  96-well PCR Cleanup Kit on the Apogent Discoveries Hydra® and TangoTM Liquid Handling Systems, American Biotechnology Laboratory 21:16-18, 2003.
10.     High-Throughput Electrophoresis Using the Robbins® TangoTM Automated Liquid Handling System and the InvitrogenTM E-Gel® 96 system, JALA 8:28-30, 2003.
11.     A Study of a High-Throughput Plasmid DNA Purification System, JALA 8:36-39, 2003.
12.     Identification and preliminary characterization of mouse Adam33, BMC Genetics 3: 2, 2002.
13.     High-throughput electrophoresis using automated liquid handling microdispensers, American Biotechnology Laboratory 20: 38, 2002.
14.     High Throughput Plasmid DNA purification Using Precision Glass Syringes, Genomics and Proteomics 2:51, 2002.
15.     The High-speed Hydra®-Plus-One System for Auto­mated High-Throughput Protein Crystallography, Acta Cryst. D58:1523-1526, 2002.
16.     RNA Fractionation by Ion-Pair Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography for the construction of larger-size insert cDNA libraries, submitted, 2002.
17.     Array production using the Hydra microdispenser and the Tango Liquid handling system, BioTechniques 32:1360-65, 2002.
18.     RNA analysis by Ion-Pair Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Nucleic Acid Research 29, No. 2 e7, 2001.
19.     RNA analysis by ion-pair reversed-phase HPLC, Nature Biotechnology Volume II, 29, 2000.
20.     The mouse mahogany locus encodes a transmembrane form of human attractin. Nature  398:152-6, 1999.
21.     Recombinant human endothelin-converting enzyme ECE-1b is located in an intracellular compartment when expressed in polarized Madin-Darby Canine Kidney cells, Biochemical Journals 333:439-448, 1998.
22.     Structurally Diverse N-Terminal Peptides of parathyroid hormone (PTH)/PTH-related peptide (PTHRP) Inhibit the Na+/H+ exchanger NHE-3 Isoform by Binding to a Single PTH/PTHRP Receptor (type I) and Activating Distinct Signaling Pathways, Journal of Biological Chemistry 271:14931-14936, 1996.
23.     Parathyroid Hormone and Parathyroid Hormone-Related Peptide activate the Na+/H+ exchanger NHE-1 isoform in osteoblastic cells (UMR-106) via a cAMP-dependent pathway, Journal of Biological Chemistry 270: 23166-23172, 1995.
24.     Parathyroid hormone and Parathyroid Hormone-Related peptide inhibit the apical Na+/H+ exchanger NHE-3 isoform in renal cells (OK) via a dual signaling cascade involving protein kinase A and C, Journal of Biological Chemistry 270: 20004-20010, 1995.
25.     PTH and PTHRP inhibit the NHE3 isoform of the Na+/H+ exchanger in renal cells (OK) via a dual signaling cascade involving protein kinase A and C, J. Bone and Mineral Res. 10: S286, 1995.
26.      Parathyroid hormone and Parathyroid Hormone Related Peptide activate Na+/H+ exchange in osteoblastic cells (UMR-106) via a cyclic AMP dependent pathway, J. Bone and Mineral Res. 9:S169, 1994.
27.     Activation of HEK cells adenylate cyclase by PTH and PTHRP, J. Bone and Mineral Res.17:121, 1992.
28.     Activation of Adenylate cyclase by PTH and PTHRP in human embryonic kidney cells, Medecine Sciences, (French) 17: 8:14, 1992.
29.     Electron transfer reactions between excited diarylmethyl and triarylmethyl carbocations and aromatic donors, J. Photochem. 175-189, 1991.
30.      Diffuse Reflectance Laser Flash Photolysis studies of reactions of triplet Benzophenone with hydrogen donors on Silica, J. of Physical Chem. 95:4430-4435, 1991.

 
PATENTS

1. Provisional Patent entitled Personal Document Scanner, Sorter, Categorizer, and Organizational Software, 2003.
2. Patent Application No. WO00181566 entitled APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SEPARATING AND PURIFYING POLYNUCLEOTIDES.
3. U.S Patent Application No. US6521411 entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE PREPARATION OF cDNA.
4. Patent Application No. WO0166218 entitled CHROMATOGRAPHIC METHOD FOR RNA STABILIZATION.
5. U.S. Patent Application No. US20020620 entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PURIFICATION AND QUALITY ANALYSIS OF RNA.
6. U.S. Patent Application No. US20020102563 entitled APRATUS AND METHODS FOR SEPARATING AND PURIFYING NUCLEOTIDES.
7. U.S Patent Application No. US2001000808447 entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PREPARATION OF cDNA.
8. U.S Patent Application No. US20010051715 entitled CHROMATOGRAPHIC METHOD FOR RNA STABILIZATION.
9. U.S. Provisional Application entitled LOW VOLUME MICRO-PLATE AND VOLUME-LIMITING PLUGS. Reference number 60435-301600.
10. U.S. Provisional Application entitled PERSONAL Document scanner, Sorter, Categorizer, and organizational software.