Beyond the Lines: Expert Perspectives on Lateral Flow Assay Development

John J. Daniels is the founder and CEO of DiagMetrics, Inc., where he leads development of a mask-based exhaled breath condensate platform, its lead application in low-cost tuberculosis screening, and the company's assay development collaboration with the LFADS team.

After receiving degrees in biology and chemistry, Jackie began her career in structure-based drug design at Pfizer. She spent a decade expressing, purifying, and crystallizing proteins for x-ray data collection and structure solving before transitioning to our specialty assays group.

There, she contributed to multiple product launches, including work on nanodiscs, in vitro diagnostic kits, flow cytometry assays, and Duolink, leveraging her strong background in protein chemistry and immunoassays. Her work supporting the Duolink Customs offering led her to the attention of the Assay Development Services group, where she now acts as senior commercial project manager.

Eileen Hannigan is the Scientific Associate Director for the Assay Development Services Group at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. In this role, she coordinates and leads the groups technical collaborations. Eileen has worked here for 23 years, initially providing product and application support for the critical raw materials in the Diagnostic Business portfolio before moving into Research and Development. Her background is in Industrial Biochemistry and she holds a Ph.D. in Immunology.

Brian Ward holds a Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from Michigan State University and completed his postdoctoral training in Quantitative DNase I Footprinting at Syracuse University.

With nearly four decades of experience in Molecular R&D, Brian has built deep expertise in nucleic acid chemistry, amplification technologies, and sequencing technologies. His long tenure reflects a sustained commitment to advancing the science that underpins modern molecular biology workflows.

Matthew is the global product training manager for the Diagnostic and Regulated Materials Division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. For the last 15 years, he has created and run hands-on wet lab workshops, conferences, webinars, and internal training programs on a wide range of life science technologies. In addition to his training role, Matthew works directly with IVD and diagnostic assay manufacturers to conduct supply chain risk assessments, helping customers identify critical raw materials, evaluate supplier quality levels, and implement proactive risk mitigation strategies across their product development lifecycle. He holds degrees from Michigan State University (Zoology, B.Sc.) and the University of Hawaii at Manoa (Cell and Molecular Biology, Ph.D.).

Dr. Mansfield is in his 34th year at the Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in Bedford, Massachusetts, and is currently an Applications Development Scientist in the Diagnostics and Regulated Materials R&D Group. His initial work focused on interactions of biomolecules with membrane surfaces for western, Southern, and northern blotting. That was followed by work on sample processing and concentration of protein solutions using centrifugal filtration devices. For the past 25 years, he has been working on the utilization of membranes and other porous materials in immunodiagnostic tests and medical devices.