Research and Development

MVP Laboratories has assembled an outstanding team of scientists and technicians who collaborate on all facets of R&D undertaken by the company.  Team members possess numerous years of experience gained both internally and through previous employment in the veterinary biologics industry and related areas.  All members are hands-on contributors to the vast array of projects undertaken.  The primary mission of the team is to investigate means by which to offer science based products and services to our clients.  Their efforts have resulted in the development of innovative procedures for the culture, characterization, and growth of micro organisms associated with disease in animals.

In addition to our vaccines, MVP has developed a variety of adjuvants used in veterinary vaccine manufacture.  These products are sold in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

Dr. Boh C. Lin
Director, Biological Research and Development

Education: Dr. Lin received his DVM from National Taiwan University in 1974. He went on to graduate school in 1984 to earn a MS in veterinary pathology (1984-1985) and a PhD in immunology (1986-1989) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Experience: As he completed his military service in 1976, Dr. Lin joined the prestigious Pig Research Institute-Taiwan ( a UN project in the 1970s) and worked in the Department of Pathology to study the pathogenesis of an important pig pneumonia caused by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae.   After obtaining his PhD degree, he was employed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Medigenic Incorporation to produce and purify HIV protease for anti-HIV drug development. He joined MVP Laboratories in 1991 and brought a broad experience in swine pathology, microbiology, immunology, immunoassay development, monoclonal antibody production, and molecular biology to the company.

Role at MVP: As Director of R&D, Dr. Lin heads our scientific committee and meets with committee members to discuss and implement all of the approved R&D projects. In order to help clients obtain top quality herd specific vaccines, he works together with all of the committee members to develop new protocol for characterization and evaluation of each field strain using molecular approach as well as other leading edge techniques.  Dr. Lin also serves as our Pathologist for the Diagnostic Lab.  

Jack McGonigle
Executive Vice President, Technical Operations

Education:  Mr. McGonigle received a B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1969.

Experience:  Mr. McGonigle began his career in veterinary biologics in 1969 with various responsibilities in virus
manufacturing, quality control, R&D, and regulatory affairs.  He joined MVP Laboratories in 1994 as Quality Control Manager and now serves as Executive Vice President, Technical Operations.

Role at MVP:  As Exec. Vice President, Technical Operations, Mr. McGonigle has over-all responsibility for biologics manufacturing, adjuvant manufacturing, quality control, diagnostics, R&D, and regulatory affairs.

Dr. Mike Carter
Director, Regulatory Affairs

Education: B.A. Biology, Texas Christian University, 1964.  M.A. Biology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, 1967.  Ph.D. Virology and Epidemiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, May, 1972.  Post Doctoral Fellow, Baylor College of Medicine, October, 1973.

Experience:  Dr. Carter has been employed at Jensen-Salsbury Laboratories, Welcome Research Laboratories, Cooper Animal Health, Mallinckrodt Veterinary, Inc., and Schering-Plough Animal Health.  His responsibilities in these positions provided him with a wealth of experience in numerous areas including virus production, animal testing, adjuvant evaluation, licensing of new viral vaccines and new combinations of existing vaccines.  He also has had major involvement in regulatory activities, served as technical reviewer for protocols and reports, revision of labeling, update and submission of facilities and personnel documents, review and revision of QA/QC and manufacturing standard of operating procedures, international shipping of biological materials, interaction with USDA/APHIS Center for Veterinary Biologics, USDA/Center for Import-Export, State Veterinarian and foreign officials.  Dr. Carter came to MVP in 2004 as a consultant for regulatory, quality  assurance/control, manufacturing, and research and development issues.  In 2008 Dr. Carter was named the Director of Regulatory Affairs at MVP.
In 2004 Dr. Carter joined MVP as a consultant, working on various regulatory, quality assurance/control, manufacturing and research and development issues.  In 2008 he became a full-time employee and was named Director of Regulatory Affairs at MVP.

Role at MVP: Dr. Carter is responsible for handling all regulatory matters with the government.  He also sets the standard for QA/QC procedures and manufacturing protocols.  As a member of the Scientific Committee, Dr. Carter adds valuable insight to the various product development studies and R & D projects.

Dr. Michael R. Hall
Director of Virus Manufacturing

Education: Dr. Hall received a BS and MA degree from Drake University in 1972 & 1974.  He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic in 1982.  He received additional training as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Iowa State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Preventative Medicine from 1981 – 1983.  Dr. Hall also served as a Research Associate at the National Animal Disease Center, Virology Section, Pseudo rabies Project from 1983 – 1986.

Experience: Dr Hall served as a Swine Virology Scientist with Solvay Animal Health in Charles City, IA (86 – 87).  He was Virus Production Manager with Schering Plough Animal Health in Elkhorn, NE (87-94).  He later served as Director of Quality Assurance for Hy-Vac Laboratory Eggs Co. in Adel, IA (94 – 01).  In (01 – 03) he was Process Improvement Consultant and later Filling and Lyophilization Manager at Merial Ltd. in Athens, GA.  He returned to Omaha and was Filling and Labeling Operations Supervisor with a Medical Device Manufacturer in (04 – 06).  Dr. Hall joined MVP Laboratories In 2006 and initiated our Virus Manufacturing Operations.

Role at MVP Laboratories: Responsible for all aspects of Virus Manufacturing.  Dr. Hall works closely with personnel from R&D in virus isolation, seed selection and scale-up.  He maintains multiple cell lines as possible host cells for virus replication and assists other departments in the manufacturing of combination vaccines. Dr. Hall  serves as a member of the scientific committee and assists in vaccine/adjuvant developmental studies.  He also assists in the evaluation of new vaccine technologies and large scale virus manufacturing methods.      
        

Dr. Jeffrey A. Kula,
Technical Services Veterinarian

Education: Dr. Kula received his DVM from the University of Illinois in 1983.  He earned his Master of Avian Medicine degree (1983-1985) from the University of Georgia.

Experience: After graduation, Dr. Kula joined Pfizer Animal Health as a technical services veterinarian for swine and poultry (1985-1989).  From 1989-1995, Dr. Kula worked in Clinical Development as a research scientist on Phase III and Phase IV pharma studies.  In 1995, Dr. Kula founded a contract research laboratory for conducting pharma and biologicals clinical studies in swine and poultry.  As a clinical investigator for animal health firms, Dr. Kula used disease models in studies for PRRS, PRDC, mycoplamsa, Bordetella, colibacillosis, and coccidiosis.  In 2003, Dr. Kula consulted with USDA-APHIS on the Exotic Newcastle Disease task force in California as a field veterinarian.  In 2004, Dr. Kula re-joined Pfizer Animal Health as a Clinical Development manager conducting biologicals studies exclusively in swine.  He joined MVP Laboratories in 2007.

Role at MVP: As technical services veterinarian, Dr. Kula works directly with veterinary practitioners , offering technical support, interpreting their diagnostic submissions and designing autogenous vaccines tailored to their specific needs.  He also provides technical support to customers of MVP’s line of adjuvants.  For product development, Dr. Kula initiates and monitors clinical R&D projects for testing of vaccines and adjuvants.  Dr. Kula develops technical information for our bulletins, brochures, and journal ads.  He also acts as the Attending Veterinarian for in-house animal testing as part of MVP’s Quality Control. 

Dr. Karen K. Brown
Director, New Product Development

Education: Dr. Brown received her B.S. in chemistry and biology from Washburn University, Topeka, KS in 1966.  She obtained a Masters Degree in Microbiology and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Oklahoma State University in 1972.   

Experience: Dr. Brown joined Haver-Lockhart Laboratories as a Quality Control Microbiologist in 1972, and transferred to Research and Development that same year.  She was assigned increasing responsibilities throughout mergers with Cutter Laboratories, Miles Laboratories and Bayer Animal Health.  From 1982 to 1992, Dr. Brown headed Biological Research and Development at Bayer.  In 1992, Bayer began a program of outsourcing basic research which Dr. Brown headed as Director of New Technology & Development.   During her career in the Animal Health industry, Dr. Brown has licensed/registered over 44 USDA or FDA products/technologies.  She chaired the international Peer Review Panel on Pyrogenicity Test procedures to replace animal testing for NICETM. Dr. Brown has recently been named as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM), the overview committee of NIH with a focus on reducing or replacing animal testing with in vitro assays. 

Role at MVP:  Dr. Brown is integrally involved in the technical and business activities of MVP.  Having extensive knowledge of adjuvant development, she has worked to extend the adjuvant selection offered by MVP and promotes all of the MVP adjuvants via presentations to companies interested in MVP's new technologies.  She also works with R&D and Diagnostics and has introduced the orally administered hyaluronic acid products Cholodin Flex and CholoGel to MVP's line of dietary supplements.

Colette Hrabik
Director, Bacterin Manufacturing, Product Filling, and Adjuvant Production.

Experience:  Colette Hrabik began her employment at MVP Laboratories, Inc. in 1981.  Her experiences encompass most aspects of biological manufacturing, which includes research of antigen production for new product development and improvement.

Role at MVP:  Colette is currently the Director of Bacterin Manufacturing, Product Filling and Adjuvant Production.  As a member of MVP Laboratories' Research and Development team, she is frequently involved in the production of antigens and adjuvants for testing and for development advancement in the animal health industry.

Leann Siedlik
Director, Diagnostic, R&D, and Molecular Biology

Education: Pre Professional (Physical Therapy) Course study at University of Nebraska Lincoln and Omaha Campuses

Experience: Leann began at MVP in 1986 in the Media Prep, Central Services, and Adjuvant Production areas.  She moved to the Diagnostic Lab 18 months later.  In 1996 Leann was made Director of the Diagnostic and R&D Laboratories. She brought on the Molecular Biology Laboratory in 1999. Leann aided in the development of custom software for use in the Diagnostic, Sales, Production, and Distribution areas.  She developed the initial emulsification process used in the manufacture of MVP's proprietary adjuvants and served as Project Leader in the development of autogenous Mycoplasma bacterins.

Role at MVP:  Leann's primary responsibility is as the Director of Diagnostic, R&D, and Molecular Biology Laboratories.  She coordinates all testing performed and is responsible for the isolation, identification, and reporting of microorganisms recovered from diagnostic submissions.  She also advises the Sales and Technical Services personnel and clients in the interpretation of diagnostic results.     

Steve Heller
Molecular Biologist, Computer Networking and Website Assistant

Education: Steve received a B.A in Biochemistry from Simpson College, Indianola, IA in 2000.  He received an M.S. in Pharmacology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE in 2003.

Experience: Steve's past work has involved research in the role that folate uptake genes have in development as well as analytical testing of pharmaceutical products.  Steve came to MVP in 2005.

Role at MVP:  Steve is the head of the Molecular Biology Laboratory at MVP.  His lab performs PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing for the Diagnostic, R&D, and Virus and Production Departments.  He also developed and maintains the company website and assists with computer repairs.

Heather Buggi
Manager, QC and Animal Testing

Education: Heather received a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from Doane College, in Crete, NE in 2000.

Experience: Heather worked at Becton Dickinson (BD) doing bioburdens, LAL testing and at Marianna utilizing her chemistry background prior to joining the Quality Control Department at MVP in 2004.  She was promoted to Manager of QC and Animal Testing in 2006.

Role at MVP: Heather is in charge of all 9CFR testing of final product and the submission of paperwork to CVB.

Terry Marco:  
Manager, Bacterin Department

Education:  BS in Biology/Environmental Studies Dana College - 1986

Work Experience:  After college, (1986-1988) Terry worked at a large pet store in Omaha and was in charge of maintaining the health of over 300 tanks of tropical fish. He joined MVP in 1988.

Role at MVP: Terry ensures the quality production of bacterins at MVP.  This includes managing all aspects of the department.  He is a member of the Scientific Committee and assists in many R&D projects and works with other department leaders to problem solve and create better methods of operation.

Dan Morgan
Manager, Adjuvant Production

Experience: Dan joined MVP in 1990 in Media Prep / Adjuvant Production.  He transferred to Internal Compliance in 1991 where he performed many QA tasks and was responsible for the Safety Program.  In 2003 Dan became the Manager of Adjuvant Production. Under his supervision, adjuvant production has been greatly expanded by the implementation of improved methods and also equipment upgrades.

Role at MVP: Dan is currently helping to make the transition to GMP compliance. He continues his involvement with MVP’s Safety Program and Internal Compliance Program.