Paul Goldenbaum

Dr. Goldenbaum is an expert in clinical microbiology and blood culture technology having led a long and distinguished career in both industry and academia.

Dr. Goldenbaum’s industry experience included a variety of leadership roles in R&D at Becton Dickinson (BD) within the Diagnostic Instrument Systems group. He was initially charged with improving and expanding the product line of BACTEC blood culture media. In this role he developed the blood culture media for all generations of the BACTEC blood culture system including radiometric, resin media, non-radiometric and the current fluorescent, non-invasive media.

During his tenue at BD, Dr. Goldenbaum directed a number of R&D areas. These included product development and manufacturing oversight for BD Immunodiagnostics (Directigen lateral flow products), BD Molecular Diagnostics (BD ProbeTec, BD Affirm, etc.), MGIT Mycobacteria detection systems, Phoenix microbial identification and antibiotic sensitivity testing, BBL plated and dehydrated media products, and more.

Dr. Goldenbaum also served as the BD liaison on biowarfare to various United States government agencies including CDC, NIH, and USAMRID. In continuing education, Dr. Goldenbaum’s studies included R&D management at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Business, and Biowarfare Preparedness at the National Defense University (National War College), Ft. McNair, Washington D.C.

Throughout his time with BD, Dr. Goldenbaum was highly focused on blood culturing and sepsis. In his role as Head of new technology development, Dr. Goldenbaum evaluated many potential disruptive new diagnostic technologies which involved close engagement with a broad range of start-up companies around the world. At the time of his retirement from BD, Dr. Goldenbaum was Director of Research and Development at BD Diagnostic Instrument Systems.

Prior to his role at BD, Dr. Goldenbaum was a faculty member in the Department of Biological Science at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Dr. Goldenbaum taught various courses in microbiology, biochemistry, and molecular genetics, and directed graduate student research. His direct research focused on bacterial membrane transport mechanisms and exogenous induction of inducible genes in Escherichia coli.

As a faculty member, Dr. Goldenbaum received the Amoco Teaching Excellence Award and the University Research Scholar Award. Dr. Goldenbaum also served as Acting Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences and was President of the Faculty Senate. He was promoted to Associate Professor and granted tenure. His eighteen-month Sabbatical leave research was supported by a National Science Foundation grant for his position as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Here, he worked with Dr. David Kennell on the regulatory role of post-transcriptional modification of E. coli messenger RNA.

Dr. Goldenbaum earned his Ph.D. in microbial physiology and biochemistry at North Carolina State University where his research focused on the role of cyclic AMP in the regulation of inducible genes in Escherichia coli. Following graduation, he conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Biochemistry of the A. B. Chandler School of Medicine, the University of Kentucky, and further postdoctoral research at Florida State University. In both postdoctoral positions, he investigated the role of menadione (vitamin K2) in the regulation of the Staphylococcus aureuselectron transport chain.

Dr. Goldenbaum is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and has served as the President of the Maryland Branch of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). At the national ASM level, Dr. Goldenbaum served to review submitted manuscripts for the Journal of Bacteriology and as a session moderator at national ASM meetings.

Dr. Goldenbaum has the United States, European and World patents in the area of blood cultures and sepsis have authored many publications and grants, and has given numerous talks and presentations in the US, Europe, and the Orient. Dr. Goldenbaum is now a clinical microbiology consultant (Texas Microbiology Consultants, LLC) for start-up companies in the field of blood cultures and rapid bacterial IDAST (identification, antimicrobial sensitivity testing).