Instructors

She has experience in many different roles in both the manufacturing and development fields within Genzyme. Most recently, her time has been spent as a member of the Gene Therapy Department as a principle development associate and cell culture manager where her responsibilities include upstream development and optimization of a pilot-scale production process. Prior to joining the Gene Therapy Department, Dianna worked in manufacturing as a support technician for Genzyme, where her group was responsible for the preparation, filtering, and filling of various purification buffers and growth media. This general process included writing, amending, and following GMP-compliant standard operating procedures (SOPs) specific to each batch of material made.

Her areas of expertise include biochemical analysis and process development/scale-up of biopharmaceutical processes. Her analytical and preparative protein purification experience and knowledge of related areas was developed during her tenure at several companies, including STC Biologics, Inc., (co-founder and chief technology officer); Lonza Biologics, Inc. (head of manufacturing technical support—scale-up, process monitoring and improvements, analytical development, biostatistical analysis group); GTC Biotherapeutics (director of process and analytical development); Ares Advanced Technologies-Serono (director of protein purification); Seragen, currently Lonza Hopkinton, Inc., (manager of process development); and Medarex Inc.,(senior scientist).

Eszter received a master’s degree in organic chemistry and holds a doctorate in analytical immunology from Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary. She performed post-doctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco, and at Purdue University. She has been involved in teaching bioprocessing for several years at community colleges in New England.

Amy Doucette graduated from Villanova University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. While working for Abbott Laboratories (now AbbVie Bioresearch Center) as a project engineer, she went on to receive a master’s degree in biotechnology engineering. In 2007, she accepted a position with Bristol-Myers Squibb as a manufacturing engineer to support the construction, commissioning and validation of the LSCC (Large Scale Cell Culture) project in Devens, MA. While in this position she supported inoculum, the seed bioreactors and production bioreactors, along with their related equipment and processes (including CIP & SIP). She is thrilled to be on WPI’s BETC team and hopes to both educate and inspire students and employees interested in learning more about biomanufacturing.

  Some of his applied automation projects were featured in editions of Control, Control Engineering, and InTech in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  The majority of Joe’s career was spent in Brewing and in Bioreactor development. As an instructor, Joe’s vision/goal/hope and dream is to inform and entertain.  Joe holds a BS from WPI, and while not attempting to either inform or entertain, he is practicing his retirement skills.

Brian Hagopian, CPIP, received his degree in chemistry from Colgate University and is currently the President of Clear Water Consulting, Inc. in the greater Boston area.   Brian brings over 35 years of experience as a high purity water and industrial wastewater subject matter expert, consultant, trainer, educator, and expert troubleshooter helping clients design and validate water purification systems, solve complex operational problems, assess risks, and remediate compliance observations.  In addition to being an instructor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center (WPI-BETC), Brian is also a Massachusetts certified instructor offering state approved courses for the licensing of industrial wastewater operators.  Brian is an active volunteer, belonging to several professional societies including the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE), the Association of Facilities Engineers (AFE), the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE), and the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA).  Brian is also a grill master for a local soup kitchen that feeds about 125 people in the Greater Lowell area once a month.  As a founding member of the Innovation Academy Public Charter School in Tyngsboro, MA, Brian helped develop and implement an education curriculum based on systems thinking in addition to being part of the team that applied to the state, was granted a charter, secured and built out a facility, and was involved in the initial hiring of teachers and staff.  Brian is one of 150 worldwide to hold the Pharmaceutical Industry Professional (CPIP) credential.

Brian has contributed to numerous recent publications including the ISPE Good Practice Guide on Sampling of Pharmaceutical Water, Steam, and Process Gas Systems (Dec 2016), ASPE’s Plumbing Engineering Design Handbooks, Volume 2 – Plumbing Systems (Feb, 2019), and is currently involved in rewriting several chapters in the ISPE Baseline Guide for Pharmaceutical Water and Steam Systems (expected out Sept 2019). Brian joined WPI in 2013 and is an instructor of Critical Utilities for the Fundamentals of Bioprocessing for Engineers Program.

His current work is to purify virus for gene therapy applications.  From 2015 to 2018, he was the manager of the WPI Bioprocess Lab.  Prior to joining WPI, he was a senior scientist at AbbVie Bioresearch Center (formerly Abbott) in Worcester and was involved in protein purification and enzymatic conversion at both the laboratory scale and the production scale.  He has worked in other areas as well: the purification of antibiotic molecules, the development of medical diagnostic devices, the manufacture of continuous fiberglass strands, and the design and operation of chemical plants. Roy’s PhD and BS are in chemical engineering and are from UMass Amherst and Lehigh University, respectively.

Courtney Hewett (Debreceni)  – Courtney has been working in the industry since 2006 after finishing her biology degree. She started her career as a Manufacturing Technician and has held various positions supporting Manufacturing as a Training Specialist and Operations Project Manager. She worked in each of the typical Manufacturing departments including Equipment and Solution Preparation, Purification, and Cell Culture. Her area of expertise is cell culture and has experience with adherent and suspension cell culture using different technology platforms including large and small scale bioreactor, roller bottle, and single use technologies. She helped with the start-up two Manufacturing facilities and in her current role manages quality systems requiring cross functional alignment. She has been an instructor at the BETC since 2014 and enjoys working with students to further their knowledge of biomanufacturing in the hands on specialized BETC laboratories.