Jeremiah A. Marsden, PhD

President

Dr. Marsden is at heart an organic chemist. In his lab work, he specialized in heterocycle synthesis, catalyzed cross-couplings, conjugated aromatics, and steroids. Experience includes route optimization, process development, and expertise at transferring a process to production of clinical trial material.

Jeremiah started at Organic Consultants in 2004 and, after 8 years as a senior synthetic chemist, he’d gained critical bench and business skills to purchase the company from its founder.  As president, he rebranded it as Cascade Chemistry; expanded its service offerings, growing from 6 employees to almost 50 process, analytical, and quality chemists today; added laboratories and manufacturing suites, including a $14 million GMP API manufacturing facility now under construction; and saw Cascade through its June 2021 acquisition by Aceto – a leading global virtual manufacturer supplying niche, differentiated specialty materials in life sciences and advanced technology end markets.

Jeremiah earned his PhD from the University of Oregon with Professor Michael Haley where his research involved the synthesis and characterization of phenylacetylene macrocycles and cross-coupling reactions. There he authored nine publications and one book chapter. Dr. Marsden received both a GAAN and IGERT fellowship while at the University of Oregon.

Micah J. Bodner, PhD

Director of Operations

Dr. Bodner earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oregon in 2003 where he conducted undergraduate research in chemistry with Professor J. Keana. He earned a PhD in 2010 at the Johns Hopkins University where he worked with Professor C. A. Townsend developing new asymmetric syntheses of carbapenem antibiotics and elucidating the function of enzymes in the thienamycin biosynthetic pathway. This work resulted in four publications and a patent.

He returned to the University of Oregon for a postdoctoral research position in a collaboration between the labs of Professor Michael Haley and Andrew Berglund. His work synthesizing pentamidine derivatives for medicinal and mechanistic studies was funded by a Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation fellowship and a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA.

He became a member of Cascade Chemistry in the fall of 2012.

Scott Mohler

Head of Business Development

Mr. Mohler graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1995 with a B.S. in Chemistry, working on synthesis of molecular models of transmembrane protein signaling with Professor Peter A. Petillo. Upon graduation, he worked as a medicinal chemist and combinatorial chemist for P&G, Abbott Labs, and Searle/Pharmacia. After the Pfizer acquisition of Pharmacia, Scott became a project manager for a small API facility, managing clinical, validation & commercial projects. After helping to formalize & improve the internal processes, he took over the West Coast Business Development role.

Since then, Scott has found a niche in helping small drug discovery service organizations implement project management & sales processes, providing the stability required for responsible growth.

Scott joined Cascade Chemistry in December 2015 as head of Business Development.

Allison “Allie” Roberts

Head of Project Management: Sr. Project Manager

Allison Roberts earned a Bachelor of Science in Polymer Science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2018 during which she conducted research under Dr. Yoan Simon synthesizing poly (lactic acid) for use in gas and moisture barrier materials via additive manufacturing as well as research under Dr. Janice Paige Buchanan synthesizing thiol-ene microbeads for hair care products. She also did a summer internship at Louisiana State University under Dr. Donghui Zhang formulating self-healing and anti-corrosion coating materials via synthesis of imine-epoxy resins.

In 2018, Allison started her Masters in Science in chemistry with an emphasis in polymer science at the University of Oregon in the Masters Industrial Internship Program. During this program she did a 9-month internship at Thermo Fisher Scientific where she worked on designing and synthesizing new materials for imaging applications in the life sciences and optimizing existing production protocols that improve the quality of calibration standards used in flow cytometry. After her internship she graduated with her master’s degree in September of 2019.

She became a member of Cascade Chemistry in September of 2019. Allie transitioned into project management and worked with management to develop the project management department at Cascade.

Dawn Fedor, PhD

Analytical Manager

Dawn Fedor earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutritional Sciences from Rutgers University, New Brunswick in 2004. After gaining three years of valuable experience as a lab technician she furthered her education by earning a Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry at the University of California, Davis in 2013. While at UC Davis she investigated the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on fatty acid metabolism and gene regulation utilizing a large range of analytical and biochemical techniques. Dawn also completed a Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology as part of her graduate program which gave her the opportunity to complete a 6-month internship at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. working with the Analytical Chemistry and Process Sciences groups.

Following graduate school, Dawn was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) in Seattle, WA. At IDRI, she worked in the Characterization and Product Development Group on vaccine formulations and analytical method development. After completing her postdoctoral work, Dawn joined Acucela Inc. as an Analytical Chemist supporting the Pharmacokinetics and Formulations groups.

Dawn joined Cascade Chemistry in April 2019.

Kevin Johnson

QC Manager

Kevin Johnson graduated from Oregon State University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. During his undergraduate work, in 2005, he started working for AVIBiopharma, which later became Sarepta, in their QC department. Initial responsibilities were environmental sampling and monitoring of the cGMP manufacturing suites. This grew into leading API fill/finish activities within the suite and coordinating off-site formulation/fill/finish projects.

In 2008 he began working with Synthetech, which was later acquired by W.R. Grace, in their Quality Control Department. During his 12 years there he built upon his cGMP knowledge in various analytical/QC roles working with amino acid derivatives, organometallic catalysts, and nutraceuticals using a suite of wet-chemistry and chromatographic instrumentation. Increasing responsibilities lead to the facilitation of customer audits, startup of a 21 CFR Part 11 compliant lab, and administration of lab network.

He joined Cascade in December of 2020 and leads the Quality Control Team!

Parker Waid

Warehouse Manager

Christine Bellmor

Plant Manager

Christine Bellmor earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University in 2006. Christine worked as Process Engineer, Technical Assistant, Superintendent, Training/Development Leader and Department Manager with Georgia Pacific over the span of more than a decade. During those years she gained invaluable insights into manufacturing, power & recovery operations, consumer products and GMP manufacturing. Quality management, cost optimization and Employee Health & Safety have been the guideposts of her professional career. In more recent years, Christine has served as an Operations Manager with Arclin USA. During that time, she gained additional experience in Chemical Manufacturing with an emphasis in polymerized products produced via batch and continuous processes. During her time as an Operations Manager her knowledge of Environmental Management, Capital Procurement, and Logistics Management developed.

As someone who finds fulfillment in collaboration across disciplines, Christine considers herself to be “one of the lucky ones” who gets to bring people, processes, and procedures together in an organization.

Christine joined Cascade Chemistry in 2022.

Chris Wilson

Operations Manager

Chris is a retired US Coast Guard Chief with 20 years’ experience in international maritime law, environmental regulations, federal and regional regulatory enforcement. 7 years of Chris’ Coast Guard experience was as a steward of the Salish Sea, one of the largest and biologically rich inland seas in the world. Chris coordinated the safe navigation of commercial vessel traffic transiting environmentally sensitive areas through partnering with Canadian agencies. He also engaged with professional mariners ensuring they are connected with resources necessary to facilitate an expeditious transit through the region, deployed emergency response assets to distressed commercial vessels to advert loss of life and ecological disaster, organized natural disaster contingency plans and training, and worked with tribal agencies to preserve first nation rights in commercial waterways.

9 years of Chris’ career was spent as part of forward deployed units including support of the United States Antarctic Program aboard CGC Polar Star, surveillance and interdiction of illicit narcotic traffickers in Central and South America aboard CGC Morgenthau and Air Station Sacramento HC-130H Maritime Patrol Aircraft, as well as part of the response to the world’s worst oil spill, Deepwater Horizon. Post retirement Chris signed on as a project manager for G4S at PeaceHealth Southern Oregon, representing G4S in meetings with executive hospital management, leading a team of 95 security professionals, and managing COVID contingency plans for the hospitals four Southern Oregon campuses.

Chris joined Cascade Chemistry in May 2020 and aligns Manufacturing Operators with the needs of Process Chemists, manages Environmental Health and Safety for the Polk St. facility, as well as coordinating federal and regional regulatory compliance with DEA, OSHA, DEQ, and OHA. Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Arizona.

Laura Shirtcliff, PhD

Lead Synthetic Chemist

Dr. Shirtcliff graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2001 with a B. S. in Biochemistry and Molecular biology, where she worked in the lab of Prof. Bakthan Singaram on boronic acid glucose sensors. She earned her PhD researching concerted heterocyclic cyclization reactions through a combination of synthesis, methodology and computational chemistry with Prof. Michael M. Haley. Her doctoral work resulted in 11 publications. Laura was then awarded an NSF-IFRP postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research at the ETH-Zurich, Switzerland under the advisement of Prof. François Diederich, where she published two papers on novel switchable organic nano-containers.

Following her time in Switzerland, in 2008, Laura accepted an academic position at Oklahoma State University. With the assistance of her students, she conducted research into the synthesis and photophysical properties of n- and p-type organic semiconductors.

Laura returned to her native state of Oregon as a senior scientist at Cascade Chemistry in February of 2014. In 2022, Laura became a synthetic lab lead.

Jon Marshall, PhD

Lead Senior Synthetic Chemist

Dr. Marshall earned a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and German Language and Literature from Kalamazoo College in 2006 where he conducted undergraduate research with Professor Greg A. Slough. Following graduation, he worked in the algae biofuel industry as an analytical and process automation chemist with Aurora Biofuels in the San Francisco bay area. In 2010, he began his graduate career at the University of Oregon with Professor Michael M. Haley where he researched the synthesis, characterization, and materials science applications of indenofluorenes, a class of antiaromatic compounds. His graduate work resulted in 11 publications, one book chapter and one patent. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2016 from the University of Oregon, Dr. Marshall was a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Rik R. Tykwinski at both the Freidrich- Alexander Universität Erlangen/Nürnberg in Erlangen Germany and at the University of Alberta in Edmonton Canada. There, Dr. Marshall researched the chemistry of very long cumulenes and platinated pyridyl alkynes in addition to moving and setting up Professor Tykwinski’s new graduate lab at the University of Alberta. His postdoctoral work resulted in three publications.

Dr. Marshall became a member of Cascade Chemistry in the fall of 2017. In 2022 Jon became a synthetic lab lead.

Cindy Choy, PhD

Lead Synthetic Chemist

Cindy Choy earned her Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in San Francisco, CA where she was a recipient of the Department of Defense (DoD) scholarship.  She furthered her education by obtaining her PhD in organic chemistry from Washington State University (WSU) in Pullman, WA.  Cindy’s research focused on the design and synthesis of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) inhibitors.  Upon graduation she continued her post-doctoral studies at WSU that focused on the synthesis and immobilization of affinity-based probes and recombinant protein expression.  She was promoted to Assistant Research Professor in which she later transitioned into a management role where she oversaw the daily activities in the Berkman lab.  She later joined Cancer Targeted Technology (CTT) as a Research Scientist and was responsible for the drug discovery/development stages that include devising and executing multi-step synthesis/process development, analytical method development, and managed CTT research technologists.  She also oversaw the GMP manufacturing of CTT’s API by their CMO and participated in generating regulatory documents to support their IND application.  

Cindy joined Cascade Chemistry in July 2018. In 2022 Cindy became a synthetic lab lead.

Dan Seidenkranz, PhD

Lead Synthetic Chemist

Dan is originally from Woodbury, MN. He received his B.A. in chemistry from the University of Minnesota, Morris in 2013 where he performed undergraduate research under the guidance of Prof. Ted Pappenfus developing new synthetic methods for benzodithiophenes. He earned his PhD in 2018 under the direction of Prof. Mike Pluth at the University of Oregon working on novel barbiturates and modified Hamilton receptors for supramolecular catalysis, sensing, and materials applications. After graduation, he continued his education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison working for Prof. AJ Boydston as a postdoctoral researcher. During his postdoc, he synthesized and investigated new organic photoredox catalysts for metal-free ring-opening metathesis polymerizations.

In 2019 he joined the Cascade team as a senior chemist. In 2022 Dan became a synthetic lab lead.