Learn More About the Speakers

Mark S. Warren, PhD, is Senior Director of Transporter Services at BioIVT and has more than 25 years’ experience in the drug transporter field. He has been a contract research services study director for thirteen years, initially at Optivia Biotechnology and then at BioIVT when BioIVT acquired Optivia in 2018. In this role he has worked with clients to design and complete more than a thousand transporter studies for IND filings.  Additionally, he collaborates with clients to determine how ADME and PK properties of investigational drugs are influenced by transporter mechanisms and optimizing those properties using SAR studies.  

Previously, Mark worked at XenoPort, Inc., where his work on improving drug PK properties by modifying chemical structures to take advantage of active transport mechanisms led to several clinical candidates, including the FDA-approved gabapentin enacarbil.  Mark also worked at Microcide Pharmaceuticals, developing inhibitors of bacterial efflux transporters.  Mark received his B.S. in Genetics from UC Davis, his M.S. in Chemistry, and PhD in Chemistry and Biochemistry from UC San Diego, and he completed postdoctoral work on enzyme reaction mechanisms at the Pennsylvania State University.

Karissa Cottier, PhD, is a Principal Scientist, at BioIVT. Dr. Cottier earned her PhD in medical pharmacology at University of Arizona where she focused on drug delivery in migraine headache model. In her post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, Karissa utilized molecular and histology-based assays in an in vitro model to study cerebral malaria. We at BioIVT were pleased that Karissa decided to join our team in our lab in Baltimore, Maryland following her post-doc. She has contributed to numerous projects and, importantly, led our program to develop high-purity Kupffer cells as well as investigate new applications for our HEPATOPAC® and HEPATOMUNE® cultures. 

Brian Ogilvie, PhD, is the VP of Scientific Consulting at BioIVT, where he leads a team that advises clients on in vitro drug-drug interaction studies and program strategy. He received a PhD in toxicology from the University of Kansas Medical Center. He has published various research articles and book chapters. Additionally, he has been an invited speaker at numerous drug development conferences.