School of Biological Sciences graduate Richard F. Pfeltz, Ph.D.’99, will return to campus this month as part of the Alumni Seminar in Genetics.
Pfeltz is currently a staff scientist in the microbiology research and development department of the diagnostics segment of medical technology company Becton Dickinson. Pfeltz will present “Industry Research and Development: Navigating the Corporate World” as part of the Alumni Seminar in Genetics.
When: 4 p.m. Thursday, February 19, 2015
Where: 210 Moulton Hall
Becton Dickinson is a Fortune 500 manufacturer of FDA- and USDA-regulated in-vitro infectious disease diagnostics, medical devices, and microbiology supplies that employs the Six Sigma business management strategy. Pfeltz joined Becton Dickinson in 1999 after receiving a doctorate from Illinois State University for work with vancomycin intermediate-susceptible methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). He is currently Becton Dickinson-Baltimore’s biosafety officer and manager of its research and development tuberculosis laboratory.
Areas of expertise include product development, detection and culture of bacteria, fungi and mycobacteria, growth media formulation and chemical analysis, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, rapid diagnostic methods, protein expression, fermentation, clinical MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, laboratory automation, and novel technology evaluation.
Pfeltz has also made four trips to Africa for Becton Dickinson’s President’s Emergency Plan of AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative to build tuberculosis diagnostic capabilities.
