Grow Your Skills in the Budding Cannabis Industry 2-Day Symposium (Day 2 Session 1)

The rapid growth of the cannabis industry has provided a rare opportunity for scientists to be part of an emerging field.  With that expansion, concerns related to the growth, extraction, and chemical analysis of cannabis have also increased.  As new jurisdictions allow for cannabis, a disparate and constantly evolving compliance world has been created.  Ideas for leveraging the research capabilities of academics to enhance problem solving and workflow optimization when working with the cannabis industry will be presented.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Strategies for building a strong team in a cannabis facility
• Approaches for addressing challenges of cannabis analysis
• Understanding the intersection of product quality and safety

Who Should Attend:

• Future or current cannabis lab managers
• Future or current cannabis testing lab analysts and chemists
• Entrepreneurs considering starting a cannabis testing lab

For any questions please contact Jordan Ramesh: [email protected]

Presenter:  Benjamin J Southwell (Assistant Professor of Bio-Analytical Chemistry, Lake Superior State University)

Benjamin Southwell holds a bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Chemistry from Lake Superior StateUniversity (LSSU) and Central Michigan University, respectively. With over 15 years in an educational experience, he currently teaches courses in Forensic Science, Instrumental Analysis, and Cannabis Chemistry. Additionally, he manages Superior Analytics, a university supported commercial laboratory with a focus on cannabis and environmental analyses. His current research focuses on studying the analytics of cannabinoids and terpenes in cannabis products as the Coordinator for the LSSU Cannabis Center of Excellence.

Presenter:  Brian Whiteley (Application Scientist, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Brian Whiteley is an Application Scientist in the HPLC group at Agilent. Prior to joining Agilent, he spent over 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry with various companies within their discovery chemistry groups. His research has focused on the synthesis, purification, and analysis of compounds generated in library format with an emphasis on purification and analysis by LC/MS. Brian currently focuses on cannabis potency applications, prep HPLC, and supporting Agilent customers HPLC applications. 

Presenter: Christophe Deckers (Agilent Sample Prep Application Engineer, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Christophe Deckers completed his Bachelor in Biochemistry at l' Universite du Quebec à Montreal. He was then introduced to fundamental research during his Chemistry Masters degree in the leading Laboratory of Molecular Medicine directed by professor emeritus Richard Beliveau. He has previously worked at St-Justine’s Hospital, doing cancer research using multiple chromatographic and sample preparation techniques.

Subsequently, he worked in technical support at GE Healthcare assisting customers using a variety of bio-separation technologies. Christophe joined Agilent Technologies in 2005 and is Application Scientist for sample preparation in the USA and Canada. Christophe has15 years of experience in sample preparation and is very passionate about it.

Presenter: Jean-Francois Roy (Agilent MS Application Scientist, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Jean-Francois has been working at Agilent for nearly 13 years, in various roles with a common theme: mass spectrometry (MS). His current position of MS Application Scientist has led him to get involved in multiple pre-sales and post-sales activities, supporting the Canadian market. His home base is Montreal, and he has been involved for the past three years in developing methodologies revolving around Canada-focused cannabis testing.

Presenter: Ron Honnold (Application Scientist, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Ron Honnold, Ph.D. is an Applications Scientist in the Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group (LSAG) at Agilent Technologies; Santa Clara, CA. Ron is an experienced analytical chemist and mass spectrometrist with more than 30 years of experience using state-of-the-art analytical systems. Currently he is responsible for applications and methods development related to GC-MS products, particularly for single quadrupole (GC/MS), triple quadrupole (GC-MS/MS), and quadrupole time of flight (GC-QTOF). Ron is also a member of the Agilent Cannabis Task Group focusing on pesticides, terpenes, and residual solvents.

Presenter: Simon Jones (GC Applications Engineer/Scientist, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Simon Jones has over 23 years of GC experience. For the last 15 years, he has been with Agilent as a GC applications engineer/scientist based out of the GC column manufacturing facility in Folsom California. In his roles he has assisted with application development, troubleshooting chromatographic issues, and assisting with instrument configurations. Prior to joining Agilent in 2005, he worked in an analytical lab for the power industry, developing and optimizing testing methodologies for insulating fluids and materials in transformers.

Presenter: Jenny Nelson, PhD (Application Scientist, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Dr. Jenny Nelson is an Applications Scientist with Agilent Technologies specializing in Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES), Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (MP-AES). Her broad knowledge of atomic spectroscopy has been applied to both AOAC and ASTM through her serving on expert review panels, chairing committees, and volunteering to develop new methods needed by the industry.

Presenter: L. Craig Jones (ICP-MS Application Scientist, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Craig has been with Agilent for over 15 years as an ICP-MS applications scientist. He has been involved with multiple type of applications for ICP-MS, including environmental, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, geologic, and clinical analyses, to name a few. Previous to Agilent he worked in an environmental lab performing analysis and supervising both the inorganic and organic sections of the laboratory. In his spare time, Craig enjoys volunteering at the local marine science center, mountain biking, hiking, and relaxing at the beach. Craig obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO.

Presenter: Heather Ebling (Sr. Applications and Support Manager, Medicinal Genomics, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Heather Ebling is the Sr. Applictions and Support Manager for Medicinal Genomics Corporation, and resides in the Boston Massachusetts area. Heather has been with Medicinal Genomics for 4 years. Previous to her time with MGC, Heather was a Field Applications Scientist for PerkinElmer where she supported various automation platforms and specifically catered to Next Generation Sequencing Sample Prep customers. Heather comes from an R&D background and spent several years at the bench before moving on to customer facing support roles. Heather received her Bachelors of Science degree in Biology from Florida Atlantic University.)