The Jackson Laboratory conducts mammalian genetics research offering scientific services and resources to laboratories and students.

Education

The Jackson Laboratory

The research laboratory of Dr. Charles Lee at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine develops and applies state-of-the-art technologies to study structural genomic variation and its contribution to human diseases, and vertebrate genome evolution.

Charles Lee

S. Catherine “Katy” Longley has been the executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Jackson Laboratory since July 2018. She joined JAX in August 2016 as the vice president and chief financial officer after a distinguished career in finance, public policy and law.    In her current role, Katy provides strategic leadership, direction and management for all operating activities of the Laboratory.   She oversees Finance, Human Resources, Facilities, Legal, IT and External Relations and serves as the institutional official for animal welfare and chairs JAX’s 403(b) Retirement Plan Committee.

Before coming to JAX, Ms. Longley served as the chief financial and business officer at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine where she was the senior officer responsible for the institution’s strategic financial planning and budgeting, capital and facilities management, human resources, debt structure, risk management and emergency planning, security and procurement.  Ms. Longley practiced law with Verrill in Portland, Maine, including as a partner where she practiced in the areas of corporate law, finance and banking, and nonprofit and municipal bond finance.  She served as commissioner in the cabinet of former Maine Governor Angus King, where she had oversight for all state professional and financial regulations, including banking, securities and insurance laws and regulations.   She currently serves as a director and chair of the audit committee of Camden National Corporation, Camden, Maine (CAC, NASDAQ).  Previous board appointments include directorships at United Educators, a reciprocal risk retention group in Chevy Chase, Md.; Wheaton College, Norton, Mass.; and Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company in Portland, Maine.  She holds a B.A. degree from Bowdoin College as well as a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School.

S. Catherine Longley

Ballesteros joined The Jackson Laboratory in 2005 as a senior development officer, responsible for planning, organizing and implementing individual and corporate philanthropy activities in Maine, Florida, and California.  In 2011, she was promoted to director of government affairs, where she helped grow the government relations program.  Prior to JAX, Ballesteros held an executive position at Bangor Hydro-Electric Company. 

An active participant in the state’s business community and a graduate of the Maine Development Foundation’s Leadership Maine Xi Class, Ballesteros is a member of the Maine Innovation Economy Advisory Board and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce Board.

In September 2018, Governor LePage, Senate President Thibodeau and House Speaker Sarah Gideon, reappointed Ballesteros to a second three-year term on the Maine Economic Growth Council.  Ms. Ballesteros was recently appointed to the Maine Workforce Investment Board and is a member of the Machias Savings Bank Board.  She earned her bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies from Husson College, graduating summa cum laude, and was elected to Lambda Epsilon Chi. Ballesteros holds an associate’s degree in early childhood education from the University of Maine, Farmington. 

Luann Ballesteros

Doug Abbott joined the Jackson Laboratory in September 2018. In his current role, Doug provides strategic leadership, direction and management for all financial and risk management activities.

Before coming to JAX, Doug served in several senior finance leadership roles at WEX, Inc., a global provider of payment processing systems headquartered in South Portland, Maine, including Vice President of the Americas, Vice President of International Finance, and most recently as the Vice President and Senior Financial Officer of WEX’s Global Fleet business. Prior to WEX, Doug held several finance leadership roles in increasing responsibility at Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Elmet Technologies. Doug also practiced public accounting at Ernst & Young in their Kansas City office, where he managed several large clients, including Berkshire Hathaway and AMC Entertainment. Doug holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire, as well as a M.B.A., also from the University of New Hampshire. Doug also is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Doug Abbott

Dr. Nair, executive vice president of The Jackson Laboratory and president, JAX® Mice, Clinical and Research Services, joined The Jackson Laboratory in 2007 as associate general manager of JAX® Mice and Services. The institution added clinical services to its offerings, and in 2011 Nair was named general manager of JAX® Clinical and Research Services, responsible for all clinical and scientific research services provided to internal researchers at The Jackson Laboratory and external researchers worldwide. In 2014 he was promoted to general manager, JAX® Mice, Clinical and Research Services with responsibility for all mouse production and operations added to his portfolio. He was named to his present post in 2017. Nair was promoted to president, JAX® Mice, Clinical and Research Services, in 2017 and was also promoted to executive vice president of The Jackson Laboratory in 2018.

Prior to joining JAX, Nair served as vice president for worldwide marketing and North American sales with Caliper Life Sciences (today part of PerkinElmer), Hopkinton, Mass., where he had been responsible for commercialization of Caliper’s products and services. He had been with Caliper and its predecessor company, Zymark, since 1997. From 1990 to 1997 Nair had managed Quality Compliance and Analytical Services at GlaxoSmithKline’s FDA-approved site in Singapore. Nair is a graduate in chemistry from the University of Science, Penang, Malaysia; holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Oklahoma, Norman; and has an Executive MBA from Suffolk University in Boston, Mass.

Auro Nair

Webster Cavenee

Michel Nussenzweig

Aviv Regev

Olga Troyanskaya

John C. Schimenti

BJ Bormann joined The Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit biomedical research institution, in 2017 with nearly 30 years of experience in both pharmaceutical and academic science, as well as leadership in biotech and pharmaceutical business development and licensing. BJ recently served as Senior Vice President responsible for Worldwide Alliances, Licensing and Business Development at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., along with a number of positions at Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE), including Vice President of Pfizer Global Research and Development and the Global Head of Strategic Alliances. BJ has also served in the biotechnology area as CEO of Supportive Therapeutics, LLC, the CEO of Pivot Pharmaceuticals (OTC: PVOTF) and CEO of Harbour Antibodies based in the Netherlands. She currently serves on the board of directors of Bioline RX (BLRX: NASDAQ) and Xeris Pharmaceuticals (XERS:NASDAQ). BJ previously served on the Boards for CURE, CBIA and BIO. BJ received her Ph.D. in biomedical science from the University of Connecticut Health Center and her B.Sc. from Fairfield University in biology. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Yale School of Medicine in the department of pathology.

BJ Bormann

Madeleine Braun is the chief, presidential initiatives leading the next generation of The Jackson Laboratory’s strategic institutional, scientific initiatives. With 20 plus years of experience in science, business and technology, Braun partners with senior leadership, faculty and scientific support teams to conceptualize, formulate and drive forward large scale, institution-wide human and mouse genomics initiatives to deepen understanding of human genetic variation and increase our impact on human health.

Braun previously served as the chief information officer for five years at The Jackson Laboratory, where she was responsibility for enterprise and research information technology applications, infrastructure, and information security. Since joining the Laboratory in 2007, she has held several laboratory and business management positions running high throughput, industrial laboratories and operations teams as senior director, Genotyping and Reproductive Sciences, as business unit manager for JAX Breeding Services, and as product development manager.

Prior to joining The Jackson Laboratory, Braun worked in the biotechnology sector developing cancer immunotherapeutics. As a principal scientist of Analytical Biochemistry and Formulations at Seattle Genetics Inc., she ran a bioanalytics team for toxicology and Phase 1 & 2 clinical studies. She also performed vaccine research and development work and oversaw a clinical immunology team in support of clinical research trials while she was a development scientist at Corixa Corporation.

Braun earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from Cornell University with a concentration in Genetics & Development in 1992, and then completed a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1998. In 2017 she earned an MBA, with advanced study in the Healthcare sector track, from the Yale School of Management.

Madeleine Braun

Bryan serves on the senior management team as the vice president for advancement, leading the development and advancement operations efforts for the purpose of increasing philanthropic support for the Laboratory’s mission. Based in Bar Harbor, Maine, the advancement team works within a domestic and international strategy in seeking and cultivating relationships for JAX.    

 

Prior to arriving at the Laboratory, Bryan previously served as the president of the UNCP Foundation in North Carolina, and as the vice chancellor for advancement in The UNC System at UNC Pembroke. Prior to his appointment in North Carolina, Bryan served as the senior assistant vice president and interim vice president at the University of Louisville. Bryan also served in a senior director of development and campaign planning role at Indiana University; and as a state government appointee in Indiana, appointed by then Governor Mitch Daniels. Bryan and his teams have successfully completed multiple campaigns for health sciences and research-related centers and institutes in Indiana, Kentucky and North Carolina.  

 

Bryan has an undergraduate degree in pre-law studies and a master’s degree in education administration, both from the University of Louisville. He holds a Ph.D. in education and social change from Bellarmine University, having also completed field research in London, UK at the University of Roehampton, where he studied the impact of poverty on child and youth development. Bryan is based in Bar Harbor, Maine.    

Bryan Robinson

Nancy J. Cox

David H. Ledbetter

Andras Nagy

Louis J. Ptacek

Janet Rossant

John Ryan joined The Jackson Laboratory in 2018 and serves as the Laboratory’s general counsel and secretary.  He leads the Laboratory’s legal department and its work in facilitating commercial transactions, licensing arrangements, spin-offs, sponsored research agreements and other strategies to aid in commercializing the Laboratory’s intellectual property.
 
Ryan joined The Jackson Laboratory with more than 20 years of experience in law, business and government.  Prior to joining the Laboratory, from 2016 to 2018, he served as president and CEO of Unilife Corporation, a Pennsylvania-based designer and manufacturer of wearable injectors for large molecule biologics.  He served as Unilife’s senior vice president, general counsel and secretary from 2014 to 2016.   Ryan was previously a partner at the Duane Morris law firm and held senior roles for eight years at Aramark Corporation, a food and facilities services provider, including senior vice president and deputy general counsel.  Ryan began his legal career as an assistant district attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.  He is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and New York University. 

John C. Ryan

Stephanie Wasco, a communications professional with more than 20 years’ experience in science, technology and nonprofit organizations, is the chief communications officer for The Jackson Laboratory (JAX). Wasco is responsible for developing communications strategies to raise the institution’s visibility and influence, in order to increase support for its mission and goals.

Wasco joined the Laboratory from Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Tewksbury, Mass., where she led communications programs for the defense technology company’s 17,000 employees. Prior to joining Raytheon, Wasco was the vice president of corporate communications for PerkinElmer, Inc. in Waltham, Mass, a global scientific technology company, where she held multiple marketing and communications positions of increasing responsibility. She joined PerkinElmer in 2000 from PanAmSat, a satellite communications provider based out of Greenwich, CONN, where she led employee communications. Wasco began her career in the non-profit sector, first in marketing at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, followed by serving as the public relations and marketing director of the H.M. Bark Endeavour Foundation in New York, New York.

Throughout her communications career, Wasco has received recognition for her communications work including two National Public Relations awards and the Dx Excellence in Marketing Award of Distinction from the Diagnostic Marketing Association.

Wasco received her Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Connecticut College, graduated Summa Cum Laude with Honors & Distinction, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Stephanie Wasco

Dr Charles Wray received his PhD in from Yale University in 1994 and B.A. from Amherst College. After postdoctoral work at UCLA and UC Berkeley and several years teaching, he joined The Jackson Laboratory first in 1999 and then again in 2014. From 2004 to 2014 he was Associate Administrative Director and then a Staff Scientist and Director of Education at the MDI Biological Laboratory. As Director of Courses and Conferences at JAX from 2014-2019, Charlie organized the delivery of dozens of courses and workshops and taught courses covering genetics, genomics and bioinformatics. Within the field of evolutionary biology, his research was centered on using molecular biology to investigate evolutionary and ecological issues. In his current role, Charlie provides direction and strategic leadership for training programs for undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows at JAX and for educational offerings for young scientists, teachers, professors and healthcare professionals who participate in JAX courses, workshops and online programming.

Charles Wray

Over the last 15 years Fasman has built many connections with JAX, serving on the Laboratory’s scientific advisory board and advising the Genetic Resource Sciences group. He currently serves on the JAX board of scientific counselors.

Fasman joins the Laboratory from the Adelson Medical Research Foundation in Needham, Mass., where he has been vice president and chief scientific officer since 2008. From 1998 to 2008, he worked with the international pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, rising to director of drug development strategy and performance.

From 1992 to 1998, Fasman worked on the human genome project at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and later at the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research. While earning his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Hopkins, Fasman co-founded a laboratory software and systems design consulting firm, BME Systems, Inc.

Kenneth Fasman

Dr. Liu is the president and CEO of The Jackson Laboratory. Previously, he was the founding executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore (2001-2011), and was the president of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO) from 2007-2013. Between 1997 and 2001, he was the scientific director of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Clinical Sciences in Bethesda, Md., where he was in charge of the intramural clinical translational science programs.

From 1987 to 1996, Dr. Liu was a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was the director of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center's Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Breast Cancer; the director of the Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology at UNC's School of Public Health; chief of Medical Genetics; and the chair of the Correlative Science Committee of the national cooperative clinical trials group, CALGB. Dr. Liu is an international expert in cancer biology, genomics, human genetics, molecular epidemiology and translational medicine.

Dr. Liu's own scientific research has focused on the functional genomics of human cancers, particularly breast cancer, uncovering new oncogenes, and deciphering on a genomic scale the dynamics of gene regulation that modulate cancer biology. He has authored over 300 scientific papers and reviews, and co-authored two books. He obtained his B.S. in chemistry and psychology, as well as his M.D., at Stanford University. He served his internship and residency at Washington University's Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, followed by an oncology fellowship at Stanford. From 1982 to 1987 he was at the University of California, San Francisco, at the G.W. Hooper Foundation.

Edison Liu

Professor Rosenthal is the Scientific Director of The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine). She obtained her PhD from Harvard Medical School, where she later directed a biomedical research laboratory, then established and headed the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) campus in Rome. She was Founding Director of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University and founded EMBL Australia as its Scientific Head. Rosenthal is an EMBO member, Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science, and is an NH&MRC Australia Fellow. She also holds a Chair in Cardiovascular Science at Imperial College London.

Professor Rosenthal is a global leader in the use of targeted mutagenesis in mice to investigate mammalian development, disease and repair. Her research focuses on the role of growth factors, stem cells and the immune system in the resolution of tissue injury for applications to regenerative medicine. Her book, Heart Development and Regeneration, is considered the definitive text in the field. She has received numerous honorary doctorates and prizes, participates on international advisory boards and committees and is a Founding Editor of Disease Models and Mechanisms, Editor-in-Chief of Differentiation and of a new Nature Partner Journal, Regenerative Medicine.

The Jackson Labor...

Olga Troyanskaya

Scientific Counselor

Roles at The Jackson Laboratory

Scientific Counselor

Andras Nagy

Aviv Regev

David H. Ledbetter