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Peter Meyer - Managing Director
Peter Meyer is an American who has lived in New Zealand since 1991. He has involvement with a number of companies involved in technology transfer from New Zealand to the United States and EU. In 1980 he founded and managed an investment banking business in London England serving the needs of the construction industry. Prior to this he worked for Credit Suisse First Boston in London. He established SLB in 2003 to export BSE free biomaterials from New Zealand.
Peter Meyer holds a BA in history from Kenyon College.
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Geoffrey Bennett - Chief Operating Officer
Geoffrey Bennett is a Canadian with 25 years of senior operational and financial management experience who has recently moved to New Zealand to join the Southern Lights team. He has spent the last 15 years with early stage enterprises specializing in technology commercialization, including 2 years in New Zealand from 2001 through 2003. He was most recently Chief Operating Officer for Innervision Medical Technologies Inc., managing the commercialization of Flash UltraSound™, a diagnostic imaging method for use in the early detection of cancer and other diseases. Mr Bennett holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta and is a member of the Canadian institute of Chartered Accountants. |
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Dr Jim Pachence - Chief Science Officer
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Dr. Pachence founded MediMatrix, Inc. in 1986 to develop advanced medical devices based on collagen. MediMatrix, Inc. formed the basis of Integra LifeSciences, where he was the Vice President of Research and Development until 1994. While at Integra, Dr. Pachence developed collagen medical products for applications in general surgery, cardiovascular repair, neural repair and cartilage repair; eight of his collagen-based products have reached commercial production, six of which are currently sold by Integra. He has worked as a biomaterials scientist at major academic institutes such as the University of Pennsylvania , Columbia University , Hospital for Joint Diseases (NY), and the Brookhaven National Laboratory. He also has extensive experience with technology licensing, industrial and academic research and development, and regulatory affairs for biomaterials-based medical devices. Dr. Pachence holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Physics and Biophysics (magna cum laude) from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Dr John Higgins – Technical Director
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John Higgins is a biochemical engineer with broad industry experience and a passion for application of science and technology.
His experience includes process development and application in: manufacture of gelatine and agar, continuous isolation of enzymes produced by fermentation, very large scale production of single cell protein, microbial polysaccharides, application of chemolithotrophic bacteria to metal extraction, and isolation of milk proteins. His expertise includes understanding the performance characteristics of proteins and polymers in terms of both the manufacturing process and the system of characterisation.
He has also practiced as a consultant specialising in valuation of investment in science and technology.
His responsibilities in Southern Lights include establishment of production processes, process facilities and quality systems. The most recent development is to produce Type I insoluble collagen. This development includes supply to customers of a full product characterisation to the standard ASTM F2212-02 Standard guide for Characterization of Type I Collagen as Starting material for Surgical Implants and Substrates for Tissue-Engineered Medical Products
Dr Higgins holds a Ph.D in Biotechnology and a B.Tech. (Biotech) from Massey University and an M.E. (Chem) from the University of Canterbury
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