Randall K Julian, Jr., Ph.D., Founder and President
Julian's 14 year career in the pharmaceutical industry has focused on informatics-centric solutions for high throughput mass spectrometry in research laboratories. Prior to founding Indigo BioSystems, he held several leading research positions at Eli Lilly & Co. with an emphasis on bioinformatics for Mass Spectrometry and LC/MS. He is the co-chair of the Human Proteome Organization's Proteomics Standards Initiative and an adjunct professor of Chemistry at Purdue University.
Raul Zavaleta, Chief Executive Officer
Zavaleta has 20 years of entrepreneurial experience during which he has co-founded several life science based companies, including SciCor, the first clinical laboratory exclusively dedicated to clinical trials. SciCor became the foundation of Covance, one of the largest global Contract Research Organizations. He has held various executive positions, including CEO, of national and international technology companies.
Owen Hitchins, Executive Director of Sales & Marketing
Owen Hitchins is an experienced commercial professional in the life sciences industry with over twenty five years of experience in marketing, product management, sales, sales management and global strategic account leadership.
Before joining Indigo BioSystems, Owen was Director of Global Accounts for Thermo Fisher Scientific where he directed global accounts, after having originally started the team in 2002. Previously Owen held positions with several world leading companies, including Beckman Coulter, Comdisco, and EDS. He has consistently delivered profitable revenue growth, while building strong relationships and exceeding customer expectations.
Owen received a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from Butler University, with emphasis in Finance and Marketing.
"I chose to join Indigo BioSystems so that I could bring all of my past experience to bear in driving the commercial success of a new company."
Amy Gilchriest, Ph.D., Director of Research & Development
Amy Gilchriest joined Indigo in 2006 as Senior Scientist and became the Director of Research and Development in 2009. She received her B.S. degree in chemistry and mathematics from The College of William and Mary in 2000 and earned her Ph.D. degree in analytical chemistry from Purdue University in 2005, studying under the direction of Professor R. Graham Cooks. In her graduate research, Dr. Gilchriest designed and developed novel multiplexed ion trap mass spectrometers for high throughput sample analysis. While at Purdue, she was awarded the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Analytical Chemistry Graduate Research Fellowship in 2004 and named the Alice Watson Research Scholar by the Department of Chemistry as inaugural awardee in 2005. She is a member of ACS and the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS). Dr. Gilchriest is inventor or co-inventor on six U.S. Patents for automated data analysis and data management systems developed with her team at Indigo BioSystems.
Fred Lytle, Ph.D., Indigo Fellow
Fred E. Lytle received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Juniata College in 1964 and earned his Ph.D. degree in analytical chemistry at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968. He joined the faculty at Purdue University that same year, being promoted to Associate Professor in 1974, Professor in 1979, and Professor Emeritus in 2008. While at Purdue he was the acting Director of Instrumentation, the Director of General Chemistry, the head of the Analytical Division, the Director of the Harry L. Pardue Center for Advanced Instrumentation, and the Associate Department Head in charge of Centers and Facilities. In May 2008 he joined the technical staff of Indigo BioSystems where he is a corporate Fellow.
He was a pioneer in the application of lasers to analytical chemistry and a co-developer of the synchronously-pumped dye laser. Throughout his tenure at Purdue he taught a nationally-recognized graduate course on numeric and electronic methods of signal-to-noise enhancement. He is currently developing numeric and computational algorithms for data processing in pharmaceutical applications.
During his tenure at Purdue he was awarded the Merck Company Faculty Development Award, Outstanding Teacher in the School of Science, Amoco Undergraduate Teaching Award, Outstanding Innovation In Helping Students Learn Award for his work with scientific Braille; and, was named the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching 1996 Indiana Professor of the Year.
At the national level he has received the American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Chemical Instrumentation, and the American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry. In 2009 he was named a Fellow of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. He has been a member of the National Bureau of Standards Panel for Analytical Chemistry and the National Science Foundation Chemistry Advisory Board. He has been an associate editor of Applied Spectroscopy, a member of the editorial board of Analytica Chimica Acta, and the spectroscopy editor of Analytical Chemistry. He currently is a member of the American Chemical Society and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.