Gary Durack

I have spent the last 26 years working in the field of cytometry. My career has been almost evenly divided among a large corporate entity (Coulter Corporation), two academic institutions (Purdue University and the University of Illinois), and my own technology company (iCyt Visionary Bioscience). I currently serve as the Chief Technical Officer for iCyt, which I founded in 1995, and as Associate Director for Technology at the University of Illinois Biotechnology Center. iCyt has produced numerous custom cytometry-related products. These include the X-Cyt clinical cytometry data management system, the Lyt 200 solid-state blue-green laser system, and a multi-channel, industrial cell sorting system.

My cytometry career began in 1979 when I joined Coulter Corporation. At Coulter I had the privilege of working under Bob Auer, one of the pioneers of commercial cell sorting technology. I also had the honor to know and work under Wallace Coulter, the inventor of the Coulter Counter, one of the most commercially successful cytometers in history. My work at Coulter included technical support, management of their cytometry customer support operations and oversight of their cytometry research instrument development program.

In 1989 I moved to Purdue University where I helped Professor Paul Robinson launch the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories. I served as manager of the core laboratories and directed the cooperative programs with the Schools of Engineering. Significant contributions while at Purdue include numerous publications, assisting Steve Kelly with the inception of the Purdue mailing list, and the development of technologies that were ultimately licensed by Purdue for commercial use.

I moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 1993 to succeed Julie Auger as the Director of the UIUC Biotechnology Center Cytometry Facilities. I collaborated on several projects with Professor Enrico Gratton, Director of the NIH Resource for biology-related fluorescence spectroscopy. One of those projects was the development of a cell sorter capable of fluorescence lifetime measurement. This instrument, developed in 1996, was among the first to incorporate an all-digital data acquisition system. I also collaborated with Professor Edward Voss to develop flow cytometry-based polarization/anisotropy techniques for investigating antigen processing mechanisms and pathways.

In 1995, while at UIUC, I began a private design and consulting company named Cytometry Services Inc. (now iCyt Visionary Bioscience, Inc.). Since then, iCyt has provided consulting services and custom instrument solutions to several instrument manufacturers, flow cytometry vendors and end users. iCyt is committed to fostering the development and practical application of novel, single-cell measurement and handling technologies.

I have been an active member of ISAC for most of my professional career. I have attended all Congresses except one since Congress XII was held at Cambridge in 1987. I have routinely participated in the technology workshops associated with the ISAC meeting and the annual Asilomar engineering meetings. I have served on several ad-hoc and formal ISAC committees. These include the Scientific Advisory Committee and the Planning Committee for the Congress XXIII to be held in 2006.

Campaign Statement

This is an exciting time to be a cytometrist and a designer of cytometry devices. The fields of genomics, cytomics and proteomics are experiencing explosive growth. This growth is producing an ever increasing demand for improved cytometry techniques, technologies and devices. For example, new higher-bandwidth, multiplexed-label systems are being developed and deployed into high content screening (HSC) applications. New quantitative imaging systems are providing more colors, improved resolution and faster analysis. Among the most interesting to me is the emergence of a new class of highly automated, parallel sorting (HAPS) devices. Microfluidic or traditional droplet HAPS devices promise to increase effective single cell sorting throughput by many times.

My primary objective as Technical Councilor would be to increase the health and relevance of ISAC by expanding membership among scientists, engineers and other professionals associated with cytometry-related technology development, such that technical advances can be rapidly deployed into a broad spectrum of biological research efforts.

The above objective would be accomplished with the following major specific actions.

• Expand ISAC interaction, cooperation and participation with regulatory entities, other professional and scientific societies, and commercial concerns.
• Develop programs that foster cross-disciplinary communication, development and innovation.
• Provide forums, both real and virtual, targeted at overcoming important technical hurdles.

Like most of the membership, there are numerous responsibilities to fill my time. I accepted the nomination for Technical Councilor because I believe ISAC has the opportunity to play a critical role in fostering the rapid development and deployment of important new technologies. ISAC can be a nexus where methods and technologies needed to support important developments in many areas such as HSC, clinical diagnostics, proteomics and stem cell-based therapeutics can meet. Success in this endeavor will require ISAC to actively seek connection and collaboration with a wide range of regulatory entities, professional and scientific societies, and commercial concerns. ISAC has traditionally been a multi-disciplinary society. This tradition makes ISAC a logical community where biologists, clinicians, engineers, chemists, physicists, and commercial interests can engage with one another to catalyze innovation. Achieving this will expand the membership and increase the relevance of ISAC in these important scientific and technological areas.

I accepted the committee's nomination for Technical Councilor because I believe I can infuse vision into ISAC's cross-disciplinary outreach and provide leadership for its growth in these critical technology areas. If elected, I will energetically apply my unique combination of skills and career experience to the Council position. My career has been cross-disciplinary in nature. I am an engineer who has also spent years running a busy cytometry core facility. I am honored by the nomination, and I will do my best to serve the membership if they choose to elect me. I am excited and enthusiastic about the future of cytometry and the role ISAC will continue to play in its ongoing development.