The BETC has several course instructors who together have an impressive breadth and depth of experience in both academia and industry. Program participants benefit from instructors’ direct working knowledge of biomanufacturing and their insights into innovations and trends in the field. Click below to learn more about them.
Vincenzo “Enzo” Antignani – After receiving his doctorate from the University of Naples “Federico II”, Mr. Antignani worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan on cell-cell interactions. He brings over 10 years of experience in academia as faculty and program coordinator. Enzo joined Asahi Kasei Bioprocess in 2022 and he currently serves as the technical training lead, Read more.
Chris Bellerive – Chris has more than 18 years of experience in the biomanufacturing industry, including 15 years of management experience. His background includes technology transfer and process scale-up, as well as clinical and commercial cGMP manufacturing and training. Chris has held leadership roles in both manufacturing and quality assurance for commercial products and is a subject matter expert in all phases of biologics manufacturing.Read more.
As Operations Manager at the BETC, Chris is responsible for overseeing and maintaining the laboratories and equipment, developing laboratory experiments and processes, and instructing program participants on manufacturing operations. He is skilled in project management, data analysis, and producing technical summaries for regulatory bodies, as well as internal and external quality auditing. He is particularly adept in laboratory flow, inventory management, the maintenance and calibration of equipment and instrumentation, and laboratory and chemical/hazardous waste safety.
Chris’s experience includes work at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, BASF/Abbott Bioresearch Center, Unisyn Technologies, and Alpha Beta Technologies, where he gained expertise in quality assurance, regulatory/compliance, equipment design/start up, and validation, as well as developing and implementing continuous improvement processes.
Chris supports the BETC faculty, staff and participants by managing all aspects of the laboratory environment to ensure smooth, efficient operations.
Sarah Boermeester – Sarah is a tissue engineering professional working in process development at the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI). From 2018 to 2021, Sarah worked at the BETC across both upstream and downstream programs while earning her degree at WPI in Biomedical Engineering. Sarah’s current work focuses on scaling up production of cell and tissue therapies, integrating sensor technologies, and closing and automating pre-GMP processes.Read more.
Floyd Brownwell – Floyd has enjoyed a blended career spanning research and development, heavy chemicals manufacturing, healthcare single use manufacturing, and academia. This experience has provided a unique interface between the theoretical and the practical. Floyd understands the need for innovation and invention coupled with manufacturability. He brings this perspective to the classroom and the projects he engages.Read more.
His research interests span the interface between organic chemistry and biological function. He is interested in synthetically modified amino acids and nucleic acids and incorporation of those structures within biopolymers. This fusion permits probing the non-bonded interactions between modified peptides, oligonucleic acids, and natural molecules of interest. Additionally, insight gained from these interaction can be leveraged to create new polymers with biologically relevant characteristics.
Ethan Butler
Don Gibbs – Don has experience in both biologics manufacturing and process development. Don Gibbs has been in the biotech industry since 1988, performing purification and separation operations. His experience is in both biologics manufacturing and process development. Areas of specific expertise include chromatography, chromatography column packing, direct flow and tangential flow filtration, and aseptic operations. Prior to involvement in the biologics, he was employed as a high school math and science teacher.
Samir Gondalia – With over 25 years of leadership in the global pharmaceutical industry, Samir brings a wealth of expertise in global project management, manufacturing operations, and regulatory strategy, developed through his work with Fortune 500 companies. As a passionate advocate for innovation, he specializes in leveraging cutting-edge technologies like AI to address the industry’s most pressing challenges. In addition to advising an AI startup and hosting the podcast The Future of Pharma, he engages with thought leaders to explore transformative ideas shaping the sector.
Jean-François Hamel, PhD – Dr. Hamel is a biological and bioprocessing engineer with extensive experience in both upstream and downstream processing.Jean-François Hamel loves to share his passion for biological and bioprocessing engineering with academic students and professionals. He is a hands-on teacher in MIT’s Chemical Engineering Department and has been an industry consultant for more than 25 years.Read more.
Jean-François has studied original upstream and downstream problems in varied microbial and cell culture processes, at the bench (down to µL) and pilot scale (up to 1,500 L), and integrated advanced analytical technologies for process improvement. In his teaching and research Jean-François has had the opportunity to beta-test or evaluate novel technologies, such as the first rock-bed single-use bioreactor and portable microbial flow cytometer, in-situ glucose and O2/CO2 optical sensors, auto-samplers, modular analyzers, expanded-bed chromatography, and computer simulation tools. His current projects focus on biofuels from microalgae and yeast, vaccine antigen and monoclonal antibodies from mammalian cells, stem cells, and proteins from microbes, which have been studied in traditional or single-use bioreactors.
Jean-François received a master’s degree in biochemical engineering from MIT, and a PhD from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris (part of Sorbonne Universités). He is enthusiastic about joining the BETC instructional staff, contributing to the center’s original course offerings, and working with the course participants.
Roy Hegedus, PhD –Roy is an adjunct instructor/lecturer in the WPI Biology and Biotechnology Department and is a Scientific Director at LakePharma, Inc. in Worcester. 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.
Brian Johnson – Brian has over 12 years of biologics experience. He is currently a Project Manager at Bristol Myers Squibb. Previously, Brian was the Technical Lead for Upstream commercial manufacturing supporting the construction, validation and commercialization of the BMS Devens facility, a 6 x 25,000L production facility (the 3rd largest in the world). His most recent project was the site’s transition to multi-product operations. Prior to BMS, Brian worked at Abbott Bioresearch Center supporting clinical and commercial manufacturing. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management.
Emily Johnson – Emily is a section manager for Maintenance at Abbvie Bioresearch Center. Previously, Emily was the Maintenance Section Manager at Abbvie Bioresearch Center. Prior to that she supervised Fermentation and Purification areas for both clinical and commercial manufacturing. Earlier in Emily’s career she was an operations technician and a vaccine manufacturing associate for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma at Biovest International. Emily holds a Biomedical bachelor’s degree. Emily joined WPI’s Corporate and Professional Education program in 2014 as an instructor in Fermentation operations in the Fundamentals of Biomanufacturing program.
Nefiola Kaso – Nefiola holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University and has 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, spent at Abbott and AbbVie. Her experience has spanned from upstream process development, technical transfer and manufacturing support to project management and CMC. As an upstream scientist Nefiola worked with small scale bioreactors and had the opportunity to not only improve processes but also scale up and transfer to 6,000 L and 12,000 L scales at multiple sites, in addition to supporting clinical and commercial GMP manufacturing of hundreds of batches.Read more.
Padmadhar “Pad” Madupu – Padmadhar “Pad” Madupu has more than 16 years of experience in biopharmaceuticals. He worked in various capacities in Manufacturing, Engineering and Science and Technology roles. Pad’s experience include Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen, Genzyme and Pfizer. He holds a masters degree in chemical engineering and several certificates in advanced management, bioprocess engineering and technical management.
Elizabeth McDermott – Elizabeth completed her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at UMass Amherst in 2020, and has worked in the biologics industry ever since. She began her career as an operator on the manufacturing floor, and subsequently has held roles in process engineering, pilot scale process development, and capital engineering, all at AbbVie. She is passionate about teaching and has been teaching at the BETC since 2022. 
Jonathan Menard – is an engaging classroom facilitator, who focuses on participant-centered learning techniques and direct student involvement in the education process. His experiences over the last 12 years in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry include: small scale API manufacturing, quality control analytical testing/method development, and CGMP/technical/behavior-based training. Jonathan has extensive experience in the design and development of eLearning, On-The-Job, and classroom content that is aimed at captivating learners. Jonathan received an MS in Learning and Organizational Development from Suffolk University and a BS in Chemistry from WPI.
Jorgo “JT” Tollkuci – Jorgo has been in the biotechnology industry since 2013, started in an operator role, became an on-the-job (OJT) trainer, and has held leader roles since 2015. His career includes experience in Cell Culture, Support Services, Purification, Quality Control, Validation, Quality Assurance, Project Management, and Training with Genzyme/Sanofi and AbbVie. Currently, he is the Quality Assurance Training Department Section Manager at AbbVie Bioresearch Center and has created several business need tailored training programs for Manufacturing and Quality. Jorgo is also very passionate in developing, mentoring/coaching, and training experienced/new talent.Read more.
Erin Young