Former Director of Analytical Operations, Genentech
California, USA
Martin Vanderlaan has recently retired after 20 years at Genentech, where he was Director of Analytical Operations. This centralized testing laboratory is unique in the Roche network of sites, and provides analytical testing using such diverse analytical methods as PCR, ICP-MS, HPLC-MS, CE, FTIR, and ELISAs. This laboratory has responsibility for all Genentech process-related impurity testing, such as host cell protein and DNA, and leached Protein A, and all media component testing, such as vitamins, amino acids, and trace metals. Martin’s particular areas of interest include the use of assay automation and robotics, data management in electronic lab notebooks, and host cell protein assays. Martin is a member of the US Pharmacopea Expert Group on host cell protein analysis, a member of the California Separation Science Society, and a member of AAAS and ACS.
Martin has held previous leadership positions at Genentech in departments with responsibility for protein analytical chemistry method development, potency testing, and protein PK assay development. Prior to coming to Genentech, Martin was Director of Immunochemistry at PerSeptive Biosystems, a start-up instrument company in the Boston area. In this capacity, he developed products using immunoaffinity HPLC, and describes himself as being “bilingual”, speaking both the jargons of chromatography and immunoassays and always looking for opportunities for synergism between these techniques. Prior to this, Martin ran one of the first hybridoma laboratories on the West Coast, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His mAbs for glycophorin blood typing (M/N blood groups) were the industry standard.
Academically, Martin has a BS in physics from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a Ph.D. from New York University’s Institute of Environmental Medicine, where he specialized in Oncology. More recently, Martin completed an executive MBA at the University of San Francisco. Martin has more than 75 publications, 10 patents, and was editor of the ACS Symposium Series book Immunoassays for Trace Chemical Analysis: Monitoring Toxic Chemicals in Humans, Food, and the Environment.
