Our Company
Learn more about story and people behind AssayQuant Technologies, Inc.
AssayQuant Technologies was founded in 2015 by scientists Dr. Barbara Imperiali and Dr. Erik Schaefer. For over two decades, Barbara and Erik have been innovators in life science research, technology and new product development. Under their leadership, AssayQuant delivers robust, easy-to-use, and high-value assays backed by innovative and proven technologies to enable your research efforts. With over 250 peer-reviewed publications and a dozen patents between them, Barbara and Erik have unmatched expertise that's passed along to every customer through strong technical support and a commitment to meeting the needs of our customers.
Patented Technology, Validated Research, Exclusively Licensed
Our technology is well validated with 100's of publications using the Sox-based format published in leading scientific journals. Use of the sulfonamido-oxine (Sox) fluorophore to report kinase activity via Chelation-Enhanced Fluorescence (ChEF) is covered by nine patents that are exclusively licensed by MIT to AssayQuant Technologies, Inc.
Click here to read Dr. Imperiali's "Perspectives on the Development of the PhosphoSens® Kinase Assay Technology".
Erik Schaefer, PhD
Co-founder & CSO
Erik is co-founder and CSO of AssayQuant Technologies, Inc. He has over 25 years of experience leading innovative life science tool companies, including Promega, BioSource, Invitrogen/Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific and now AssayQuant Technologies, Inc. In his many leadership roles, Erik has built and led high-performing R&D and manufacturing teams focusing on integrating innovative technologies to enable customers across diverse market segments and drive business performance. He has developed and commercialized more than 750 new products with a focus on workflow solutions and novel assay formats to improve understanding of signal transduction pathways and phosphoregulation in normal and disease states and to enable drug development leading to more effective treatments of human disease.
Erik holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, with a focus on molecular and cellular biology, from the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. He has 65 peer-reviewed publications and one patent (1 pending). He did his postdoctoral studies at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX and the Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences & Technology in Houston, TX, working on insulin receptor structure-function and creating animal models for diabetes.
Outside of AssayQuant, Erik enjoys time with his family, fly fishing, gardening and hiking.
Barbara Imperiali, PhD
Co-founder, CTO & Board Member
Barbara is co-founder and CTO of AssayQuant Technologies. She is currently the Class of 1922 Professor of Biology and Chemistry at MIT and has run an independent research group working in the fields of chemical biology and glycobiology at Carnegie Mellon, Caltech and MIT. Barbara received a B.Sc.(Hon) in Medicinal Chemistry (University College London, UK) in 1979 and a Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry (MIT, Cambridge MA). She also carried out postdoctoral studies at MIT and Brandeis University.
Barbara’s research focuses on diverse aspects of protein structure, function and design, and she applies multi-disciplinary approaches involving organic synthesis, state-of-the-art spectroscopy, molecular modeling, enzymology, and molecular and cellular biology to address fundamental problems at the interface of chemistry and biology.
Barbara has co-authored over 220 peer-reviewed publications and 14 patents, and she is a member of the National Academy of Science.
In her free time, Barbara enjoys hiking and CrossFit and on longer escapes, she likes to go on long-distance backpacking trips.
Gerry Labonte
Chief Financial Officer
Gerry is a finance and accounting executive with 30+ years of leadership experience focused on system implementation, defining roadmaps, and developing financial platforms. He has successfully led a broad range of financial implementations impacting private equity and real estate, including investment returns and calculations, and performance reporting.
Gerry’s finance and accounting experience is in diverse industries (Real estate, public accounting, consulting, etc.) for both public (State Street Bank, Brookfield Asset Management) and private (Hipercept, AEW Capital Management) companies.
He has delivered operation excellence across diverse areas, including RFP process management, accounting operations outsourcing analysis, ERP software selection and integration, large-scale implementation of accounting, finance, and warehouse management systems and automation of common financial processes to deliver improved function and efficiency.
Earl May, PhD
Senior Director of Discovery Technologies
Earl brings over 25 years of expertise in biochemistry, biophysics, and enzymology across multiple therapeutic areas. He has held research and leadership roles for companies like SmithKline Beecham, GlaxoSmithKline, OSI Pharmaceuticals, and numerous innovative biotechnology companies. He has explored hundreds of drug targets at the early end of the pipeline and has driven dozens of projects into and through screening and hit to lead activities.
During his tenure at GlaxoSmithKline, Earl provided quantitative analysis to multiple therapeutic areas and was a part of Bob Copeland's Enzymology and Mechanistic Pharmacology group. He then moved into biotech, taking on more significant leadership roles in screening sciences and lead discovery. Over the last decade, his enzymology experience has deepened with a focus on time-dependent and irreversible inhibition, protein-protein interaction inhibitors, and three-body biophysics problems, with over half of the enzymes he targeted being kinases.
Earl received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University after his undergraduate work in Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His post-doctoral work was in Nancy Craig's lab at Johns Hopkins University, where he dissected bacterial transposition in reconstituted systems.
Earl and his wife live in Watertown and have three adult children, scientists all, although one has unfortunately chosen not to use that gift.
Jefferson Chin
Director of Inventory Management & Automated Services (IMAS)
Jeff brings over 30 years of experience to AssayQuant within the fields of chemistry and compound management. Jeff has worked in a variety of small and large companies such as Cheminpharma, Bayer, Novartis, BMS and Pfizer. Jeff started out as a peptide chemist before transitioning to analytical chemistry, primarily NMR spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry and finally into leadership positions within Compound Management. Jeff’s broad experience has enabled him to bring innovative ideas into compound management such as acoustic ejection mass spectrometry for the analysis of compound integrity. Jeff has co-authored over a dozen articles within the field of NMR spectroscopy and presented at SLAS conferences regarding best practices in compound management.
Jeff obtained his MBA from the University of New Haven and then decided to become an Adjunct professor within the Chemistry department teaching laboratory skills in Organic Chemistry and Instrumentation.
In his spare time, Jeff enjoys woodworking, pottery and volunteering as a mentor. Jeff is most proud of his three adult children and being able to donate a kidney to improve the quality of life.
Board of Directors
Karen Allen, PhD
Board Member
Karen is a Professor of Chemistry and the Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Boston University. Karen received a B.S. in Biology (Tufts University) in 1984 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (Brandeis University (Waltham, MA) in 1989. She was an American Cancer Society Post-doctoral Fellow at MIT and Brandeis University. Since 1993 she has led her own research team at Boston University, first in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the School of Medicine, and since 2008 in the Department of Chemistry.
Karen is a Fellow of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and has co-authored over 135 peer-reviewed publications. Her research is focused on the use of protein biochemistry and biophysical analysis to understand protein structure and mechanism with an eye toward therapeutics. In this context, her laboratory has plumbed the basis of enzyme-mediated phosphoryl transfer, phosphoglycosyl transfer and decarboxylation reactions.
Jeff Hoerle
Board Member
Jeff Hoerle is Managing Partner of Stone Run Capital, LLC, an investment firm based in New York. Prior to founding SRC in 2010, Jeff worked at Reich & Tang Asset Management from 2003 as an investment analyst and portfolio manager.
Formerly, he worked at Ovid Technologies, Inc. from 1993 in a number of roles including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer.
Mr. Hoerle has a B.A. from Yale University (1990) and an E.M.B.A. from Columbia University (1997).
Gil Price, MD
Chairman of the Board
Dr. Price is an experienced biotech executive and entrepreneur with expertise across clinical asset investment strategy, evaluation, financing and execution. Additional leadership experience within R&D, Medical, and Strategy corporate functions.
Dr. Price was previously responsible for the strategic and tactical management of all business at Drug Safety Solutions, acquired in June 2017 by Linden Capital Partners. Dr. Price now functions as the Chief Medical Consultant for the global ProPharma Group.
Over the years, Dr. Price has served on multiple corporate boards, including public, private, and not-for-profit. His board duties have included the Chairman's role on Compensation and Governance and a member's role on Audit Committee. He has served on boards that report to; TSX, NYSE American, and NASDAQ. In his recent most recent experience at Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: RNN), he serves on Compensation, Governance, and Business Development Committees. In his previous role with Sarepta Therapeutics NASDAQ: SRPT, he helped guide the company's transition from an $80 million market (2008) to its current $8.4 billion market cap (2019).
Careers at AssayQuant
Behind our technology is a powerful group of innovative individuals driven to help identify powerful therapies to help create a healthier world.
Are you ready to join our team?
AUG 2024
Direct to Phase II SBIR proposal approved by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
(Project Title: Activity-based Sensor Peptides for Direct, High-throughput, and Kinetic Quantitation of Oncogenic Protein Kinases in Unfractionated Cell and Tissue Samples)
MARCH 2024
Future Labs Capital Announces Additional Investment in AssayQuant Technologies, Inc (press release).
JUNE 2023
Kinetic insights with AssayQuant's fully automated KinSight™ Kinome Profiling Services (press release).
JUNE 2023
AssayQuant launches KinSight™ Quantitative Profiling Services.
FEBRUARY 2023
AssayQuant Expands Panel for Kinome Profiling Services (press release).
JANUARY 2023
AssayQuant to present at Biotech Showcase™ 2023 (press release).
AUGUST 2022
AssaQuant partners with Vibliome Therapeutics to establish a Collaborative, Kinetic Relationship (press release).
SEPTEMBER 2021
AssayQuant reaches 375 validated PhosphoSens kinase, phosphatase and lipid kinase (DGK) assays in their product catalog.
MAY 2021
AssayQuant closes Series A Funding.
OCTOBER 2020
Patent granted for "Kinase and/or Phosphatase Sensing via Hydroxyquinoline-Sensitized Chelates," patent exclusively licensed from MIT to AssayQuant Technologies, Inc.
JANUARY 2019
AssayQuant completes 1st 254 validated PhosphoSens assays.
JANUARY 2018
AssayQuant partners with Carna Biosciences to distribute exclusively PhosphoSens assay products and services in Japan.
MAY 2016
AssayQuant partners with 21st Century Biochemicals, Inc.
JULY 2015
AssayQuant Technologies, Inc., founded by Drs. Barbara Imperiali (CTO) & Erik Schaefer (President & CSO).
APR 8, 2024 @ 9:00AM-12:30PM (Section 14) | SAN DIEGO, CA
AACR Annual Meeting
A novel sox-based continuous and homogeneous assay for the discovery of inhibitors of inactive and active AKT (1666/13)
Session PO.MCB03.01 - Cell Signaling Components as Therapeutic Targets
Susan Cornell-Kennon, Sr. Scientist
APR 8, 2024 @ 9:00AM-12:30PM (Section 14) | SAN DIEGO, CA
AACR Annual Meeting
A continuous kinetic assay to quantitate specific protein kinase activity in unfractionated cell lysates (1676/23)
Session PO.MCB03.01 - Cell Signaling Components as Therapeutic Targets
Venky Nemmara, PhD, Sr. Scientist
APR 8, 2024 @ 9:00AM-12:30PM (Section 28) | SAN DIEGO, CA
AACR Annual Meeting
A proven activity-based workflow for the identification and characterization of time-dependent kinase inhibitors using a continuous assay format (2061/18)
Session PO.ET02.07 - New Technologies
Earl May, PhD, Senior Director of Discovery Technologies
Previous Events & Presentations
APR 1-4, 2024 | SAN DIEGO, CA
Drug Discovery Chemistry
A proven activity-based workflow for the identification and characterization of time-dependent kinase inhibitors using a continuous assay format
FEB 3, 2024 @ 2:00PM | BOSTON, MA
SLAS2024 International Conference and Exhibition
A proven activity-based workflow for the identification and characterization of time-dependent kinase inhibitors using a continuous assay format (1093-B)
Earl May, PhD, Senior Director of Discovery Technologies
FEB 3, 2024 @ 2:00PM | BOSTON, MA
SLAS2024 International Conference and Exhibition
Miniaturization of fluorescent kinetic assay for optimal conditions: maximizing fluorescence while minimizing volume (1345-B)
Kiefer Fortunato, IMAS Associate
FEB 4, 2024 @ 12:00PM | BOSTON, MA
SLAS2024 International Conference and Exhibition
A continuous kinetic assay to quantitate specific protein kinase activity in unfractionated cell lysates (1030-C)
Venky Nemmara, Senior Scientist
FEB 4, 2024 @ 12:00PM | BOSTON, MA
SLAS2024 International Conference and Exhibition
Evaluation of Capillary Mediated Vitrification as an Alternative to Traditional Cold Temperature Storage for Kinase Assay Reagents (1282-C)
Gabriela Pikul, QCSM Scientist
FEB 4, 2024 @ 2:00PM | BOSTON, MA
SLAS2024 International Conference and Exhibition
A Novel Sox-based Continuous and Homogeneous Assay for the Discovery of Inhibitors of Inactive and Active AKT (1091-D)
Matthew Hakar, Research Associate II
Haley McMahon, Research Associate
DEC 14, 2023 @ 10:00AM | BOSTON, MA
Covalent Drug Discovery Summit
Kinetic Activity Assays Enable Data-Rich Decisions for Improved Covalent Drug Discovery
Daniel Urul, Ph.D., Senior R&D Scientist
OCT 18-19, 2023| SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Drug Discovery Strategic Summit
OCT 10, 2023| SANTA ROSA, CA
JBEI Annual Meeting
SEP 25, 2024 @ 10:00AM | BOSTON, MA
Discovery on Target 2023 - Strategies for Targeting Kinases Symposia
Continuous Assays Provide New Strategies for Targeting Kinases: Time Dependent Inhibition Characterization
Daniel Urul, Ph.D., Senior R&D Scientist
SEP 25, 2024 @ 10:00AM | BOSTON, MA
Discovery on Target 2023 - Small Molecules for Cancer Targets-Part 1
Monitoring Enzyme Activity with Fluorogenic Sensors Enables Data-Rich Decisions for Kinase and Phosphatase Drug Discovery
Erik Schaefer, Ph.D., CEO, CSO, and Co-Founder
MAy 23-26, 2023 | BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
SLAS Europe 2023 Conference and Exhibition
APR 14-19, 2023 | ORLANDO, FL
AACR Annual Meeting 2023
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