About Etaluma

Management team

Chris Shumate, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer

Chris has spent over 24 years in the development, application, and marketing of analytical equipment with the majority of that time concentrated in biotechnology applications. He has held key technology and management positions at several start-up and more established companies such as Hamilton, Sagian, Aurora Biosciences, and Cytokinetics. Prior to co-founding Etaluma, he co-founded Blueshift Biotechnologies, which was acquired by MDS Analytical Technologies in 2008. He also co-founded CytoPrint, which was acquired by Atto Biosciences, now part of BD Biosciences. He has a large breadth of knowledge of the industry and the requirements of successful instrumentation. He has over 40 publications and presentations and holds 7 patents. Education: B.A. Chemistry, 1984, Washington University; Ph.D. Analytical Chemistry, 1989, Washington State University.

Brian Rasnow, Ph.D.

Chief Scientist and Co-Founder

Dr. Brian Rasnow is a lecturer in physics at California State University Channel Islands and a mentor, inventor, and consultant. For 10 years he was a Principal Scientist in Research & Automation Technologies at Amgen Inc., where his group automated drug discovery, pioneered new technologies, and developed novel biodetection platforms. His systems tested tens of millions of pharmaceutical candidates and significantly contributed to several clinical trials, earning him Amgen's "Excellence in Science and Engineering" award in 2007. Dr. Rasnow studied neuroethology and physics at Caltech, where he received a Ph.D. in physics in 1994. There he established a successful research program on weakly electric fish and proposed the first plausible model of how these animals might perceive objects with their electric sense. Dr. Rasnow's diversity is perhaps his strongest asset. He is an amateur astronomer and photographer, competent in electronics and programming, an organic farmer growing ~100 varieties of fruit trees, and he mentors students from Caltech and other universities on numerous international development projects for the poor in Central America. His inventions range from a novel method for threshing pearl millet (being developed in Africa) to biochemistry assays and electro-optical detectors.

Walter (Lane) Niles, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder

Dr. Niles has over 30 years experience in basic scientific research and in the development of biomedical technologies. His inventions include computer-based real time localization of single presynaptic transmitter release sites for positioning focal extracellular recording electrodes, a quantitative FRET microscope for measuring nanometer-scale distances between membranes, a piezoelectric subnanoliter liquid dispenser optimized for volume and drop trajectory control, an automated laboratory for production and screening of target biosensor cell lines, and a microfluidic clinical immunodiagnostic platform with a time to result of under 5 minutes. He has held positions leading research and research and development teams at Rush University Medical Center, the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Aurora Biosciences, Genoptix, Biosite Diagnostics, and Aurora Discovery, and been a consultant for Abbott Laboratories, BD Biosciences, Eli Lilly and Co., and several engineering companies seeking entry to the life sciences. Education: B.S., California Institute of Technology; Ph. D., University of Wisconsin -- Madison; Postdoctoral, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Frank Ryan

Chief Financial Officer

Frank handles all aspects of corporate risk management and finance. He is also a visiting professor of finance at SDSU and teaches The Global Financial Environment course in the MBA for Executives program. After obtaining a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, Frank gained the bulk of his applied financial experience from Eastman Kodak as a financial planner. At Kodak, he analyzed dividend policy and quarterly performance for its Asian, African, and Australian regions, and developed annual financial goals for these divisions. He worked on an award-winning inventory reduction team, international transfer price changes, and implementing performance plans for international managers. Following his time at Kodak, he marketed financial systems and software services for businesses in the Seattle area. Frank then returned to academia to obtain his Masters in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Eddie Wang Rodriguez

Corporate Counsel

Eddie handles all legal matters for Etaluma. He is the Managing Member of Mintz Levin's San Diego office. His is focused on a full range of corporate and securities matters, including corporate formation, mergers and acquisitions, venture financing, technology licensing, and general business counseling for both public and private companies. He has extensive experience with counseling public and private companies in the life sciences, software, hardware, e-commerce, and information technology industries in a broad range of transactional matters. Eddie has represented clients in over 200 mergers and acquisition transactions and has represented investors and private companies in numerous private equity financings valued in excess of $200 million. He received his B.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles (1991) and his J.D. from Stanford Law School (1994).