About Us

TIRF Labs’ Team

The following scientists and engineers have contributed significantly to the development of TIRF microarray and i-Diagnostics technologies: Luis Vaca, Ph.D.; Vladimir Omelyanenko, Ph.D.; Angelica Zepeda, Ph.D.; Alicia Sampieri, Ph.D.; Philip Oldham, Ph.D.; W. William Wilson, Ph.D.; Theodore Winger, Ph.D.; David Sachs, M.S.; Hardie Johnson, B.A.; David Landis, Ph.D.; Ryan Sherry, M.S.; Tyson Weiss, B.A.; Zhanna Brotsman, M.S., Grant Leonhard, Elena Kostenko, M.S., Timothy Pike, Vitaliy Bezrodnov, Sabina Yusufova, and Alexander Asanov, Ph.D.

Personal Statement of Lead Scientist

I am Dr. Alexander Asanov, the lead scientist on the i-Diagnostics project. i-Diagnostics technology uses advanced real-time TIRF microarrays to simultaneously detect biomarkers of 4 major classes : DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites. Thousands of biomarkers can be detected simultaneously using a single TIRF microarray cartridge. TIRF (Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence) is my passion for 3 decades. TIRF is an elegant optical phenomenon which allows imaging single molecules. The project builds upon my experience and accumulates my prior efforts and findings to reduce sizes of sophisticated methods into a handheld device for personalized diagnostics.

Being inspired by Dr. Albert Bruce Sabin, who made his invention of polio vaccine available for all, I am willing to make i-Diagnostics, my invention, available to everyone.  I received my training from four Nobel Prize winners, elite super-talented teachers, and dozens of genius scientists. They enabled me with the unique set of skills and knowledge that I am not taking for granted. I pledge to return them back to society – make my inventions in the area of precision medicine available for all. Together with i-Diagnostics we supply to our R&D customers the entire range of tools for application development. I am giving back to society all my knowledge, skills, and labor. But they reach only a limited number of groups. Philanthropic donations will help me to make i-Diagnostics an Open Source Platform available to the broadest base of scientific and medical communities; in several years i-Diagnostics, the precision testing for home use will be available to everyone. I feel strongly that human society generously gave me tremendous amount of unique skills. I want to give back to society. i-Diagnostics project is my way of giving back. It does not pursue for-profit goals; its purpose is – to make i-Diagnostics devices available and affordable to everyone and the development tools – for each research group. I decided not to use standard commercial venture capital because I am willing to make i-Diagnostics available for all. I pledge to make i-Diagnostics an open source platform so that thousands of research groups worldwide can use i-Diagnostics platform to create a multitude of rapid and accurate diagnostic tests and together we will make it available to everyone. Independent experts will create an infrastructure based on the intelligence of the global network of scientists and medical doctors. My team is creating an intelligence unit to coordinate these efforts. This project leads to affordable personalized diagnostics and mitigates the risks of emergence and outbreaks of diseases.  

I am a naturalized American citizen; was born and raised in the former USSR; immigrated to the U.S. in 1994. I have achieved the American dream and feel myself more patriotic American than my U.S.-born colleagues and friends. However, they still call me “Russian scientist”. Indeed, four Russian Nobel Prize winners, academicians N.N. Semenov, P.L. Kapitsa, V.L. Ginzburg, and A.D. Sakharov, were my scientific teachers and spiritual gurus. Dr. Semenov was my Ph.D. advisor; Dr. Sakharov – the professor of general physics, when he was just a professor at the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology. I was lucky to be trained by several other outstanding Russian scientists: Drs. A.E. Shilov, K.I. Zamaraev, N.M. Emmanuel, V.I. Goldansky, E.M. Trukhan, I.Y. Sarkisov, and several others. Along with most of my colleagues I was in opposition to the totalitarian regime of the former USSR. On August 19, 1991, my fellow scientists and I risked our lives defending emerging Russian democracy at Russian White House in Moscow. Besides unique scientific training I received from my teachers and colleagues the feeling that I am responsible for the use of my scientific findings. Dr. Sakharov, the inventor of “sloyka” – the most powerful hydrogen bomb, passionately moved for global disarmament and founded Russian descendent movement. In 1970 he predicted collapse of the former USSR based on the fact that Soviet regime suppressed the freedom of speech. Soviet authorities declared that Dr. Sakharov is crazy. Norwegian Nobel Prize committee did not agree, awarded Dr. Sakharov the Nobel Peace Prize and called him “the conscience of humanity.” After my spiritual gurus I believe that I am responsible for the use of my scientific finding for the prosperity of humanity. I received from society numerous generous gifts that allowed me to develop the unique diagnostic and drug screening technology – i-Diagnostics. By this project I pledge to give back to society – make it available and affordable for all. I am pledging to make TIRF microarray technology an open source platform available to all research groups worldwide and precision diagnostics for home use – for all. We are seeking donations from philanthropists and general public to make the development tools affordable to all research groups worldwide and precision diagnostics – to everyone. I envision an i-Diagnostics center created in North Carolina Research Triangle Park based on patriotic and ethical donations of U.S. philanthropists and funding by the U.S. Government.

I have a unique broad background in chemical physics and biology, spectroscopy, microscopy, electrochemistry, surface chemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, nanoengineering, mechanical engineering, and optical engineering – key areas for this project. I have led many successful R&D projects to completion, resulting in many useful TIRF techniques and instruments. In 1999-2016, I assembled a team of extraordinary talented scientists and engineers, who developed a family of innovative TIRF instruments for molecular diagnostics and analysis of biomolecular interactions. During that time, I served as a Principal Investigator on several BAA and SBIR grants, awarded by the NIH and HSARPA. My colleagues and I pioneered several ground-breaking discoveries and accumulated specialized experience in using the TIRF technique, electrochemistry, and other analytical methods for life science applications. The results of government-funded grants exceeded typical expectations; we discovered and invented, and moreover, manufactured useful TIRF instruments and supplied them to research groups worldwide. I have published more than 50 papers in scientific journals, presented over 30 talks at scientific conferences. The U.S. Government employs me for judging scientific efforts of other researchers. I am serving at NIH study sections and NSF panels of reviewers. Our customers from academic and pharmaceutical research groups have generated unique research data using our TIRF products, and published articles in leading scientific journals. With my specialized background and unique experience, our talented team will achieve our project goals and fulfill our vision of accurate personalized medicine.  For my Bio Sketch in NIH format click here. With highest regards, Dr. Alexander Asanov.

Prior Funding, Prior US Government Awards

In 2006-14, the US government granted TIRF Labs $4.3M in BAA and SBIR awards. We excelled in our prior efforts – invented, developed, and established sales of research-grade TIRF instruments. Visit www.TIRF-Labs.com to learn about our existing TIRF products. For details about prior funding click here.