Lovelace Biomedical welcomes Dr. Larry Mallis as Director of Bioanalytical Operations and a key member of the scientific leadership team. Larry received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry and Mass Spectrometry from Texas A & M University and is a 30 year veteran of analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. He has experience in structural elucidation / confirmation (using mass spectrometry, NMR, FT-IR, etc.), metabolite identification, and GLP bioanalytical chemistry (small and large molecule) in multiple pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The addition of Larry’s operational experience to the analytical chemistry team marks a significant increase in both research capacity and expertise after a strategic, multi-year commitment by Lovelace Biomedical to expand in this area.
Larry initially spent over 20 years in various positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Magainin Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Research and Merck working in drug discovery, GLP preclinical safety assessment, clinical development, and GMP clinical release and stability testing phases of drug development and commercialization. Larry has worked with chemical and biological entities for a variety of therapeutic indications (e.g. asthma, diabetes, intra-ocular pressure, oncology, infectious diseases, cardiology, etc.) and with a variety of dosing modalities (e.g. tablets, injectables, pre-filled syringes, metered dose inhalers, drug-coated devices, creams, etc.). Throughout his career, Larry has developed automated or robotic approaches to the analysis of samples originating from medicinal chemistry or to GLP and non-GLP studies (e.g., plasma, serum, and tissue) in a variety of animal species.
After working in the pharmaceutical industry, Larry then transitioned to service-based companies, first with Critical Path Services and most recently with Frontage Laboratories. In these roles, Larry applied both his scientific and operational expertise with a focus on quality, efficiency, and meeting sponsors’ expectations. Larry further expanded his expertise in the agrochemical and commodity chemical fields, expanding his understanding of EPA regulations, environmental fate analysis, field soil dissipation and magnitude of residue studies. He has also been involved in the development of microsampling bioanalytical procedures to address the concerns of 3R and bioanalytical pediatric sample analysis.
The addition of Dr. Mallis to Lovelace Biomedical’s team is a significant milestone in our multi-year commitment to expanding capabilities, capacity and expertise in bioanalysis and bioanalytical chemistry. Along with key hires, Lovelace has invested in personnel, instrumentation and facilities to support both small molecules and biologics. Investments have included renovations of over 5,000 square feet of laboratory space, additional mass spectrometers, new UPLCs on all mass spectrometers, robotic liquid handling and additional plate readers.
This expansion in the bioanalytical area is a strategic step toward Lovelace Biomedical’s goal of providing all critical aspects of general and specialty toxicology and pharmacology studies at a single site, and have been accompanied by similar expansions in animal housing, physiology monitoring and surgical facilities. These capabilities complement our existing expertise in toxicology, risk assessment, animal models of disease, inhalation drug delivery, infectious disease and gene therapy.