Ms. Karen Watson Buckheit has 20 years of experience in the preclinical development of products targeted at preventing the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted organisms, including HSV-1, HSV-2, HPV and bacterial vaginosis. Ms. Buckheit has provided both technical and managerial support to a large number of commercial projects with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and federally funded grants. Ms. Buckheit has served as Project Manager for a wide variety of Small Business Innovative Research (Phase 1 and Phase 2) grants, Microbicide Innovation Project (MIP) grants and consortium-base Integrated Preclinical and Clinical Program (IPCP) grants totaling over $40 million. Ms. Buckheit was instrumental in the preparation and submission of Investigational New Drug (IND) applications to the FDA for anti-HIV topical microbicides. Ms. Buckheit has over 35 published manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals including four first author manuscripts and reviews in the area of HIV prevention. Ms. Buckheit has significant technical experience in the performance of the in vitro antiviral assays that support that development of prevention products including those with cell-based, biochemical, molecular, and ex vivo endpoints. More recently she has become manager of the microbiology program at ImQuest developing the necessary assays to evaluate susceptibility, resistance and mechanism of action of potential antimicrobial and antifungal products targeting planktonic organisms and biofilms. Her microbiology program focuses on hospital- and community-acquired microorganisms, wild-type and antibiotic-resistant ESKAPE pathogens, and the performance of animal model evaluations for agents targeting these organisms in neutropenic thigh and sepsis models.

Ms. Buckheit graduated from Hood College in Frederick, MD with a B.A. in Biology in 1996 and a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Science in 2010. Her thesis at Hood College involved the selection and characterization of viruses resistant to IQP-0528, a NNRTI currently being developed as a product to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV. Ms. Buckheit joined the research team of Dr. Robert Buckheit Jr. in 1996 and is a founding member of the scientific team of ImQuest BioSciences. Since February 2004, she has held the position of Director, Topical Microbicide and STI Research (now Prevention Sciences). Ms. Buckheit is a member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR) and serves as a reviewer for Antiviral Research. Ms. Buckheit serves on the Women in Science Committee for ISAR, providing scholarship funds to deserving women scientists to attend scientific meetings in support of their career development.

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Ms. Hartman has over twenty years of experience in the design and implementation of projects to support the in vitro development of therapeutic antiviral agents by biotechnology and pharmaceutical company clients. In addition she has provided both technical and professional support and project management oversight to multiple Federal grants. Ms. Hartman has a strong publication record including peer-reviewed research articles, reviews and book-chapters. Ms. Hartman has significant experience in the performance of virology services and antiviral assays involving CPE, plaque reduction, PCR and reporter gene endpoints for HIV, Herpes, Hepatitis, Respiratory and Enteric viruses. In addition to routine anti-infective screening, confirmatory and range of action assays, Ms. Hartman performs mechanistic assays, combination therapy evaluations, and selection and characterization of drug resistant viruses with small molecules, natural products, and biologics as routine components of IND-directed product development projects. She also manages the ToxiSENS platform of assays to evaluate in vitro cytotoxicity of compounds when identifying lead drug candidates. These studies involve in vitro and ex vivo assays to quantify direct cytotoxicity of development products to fresh and established human cells, permeability of agents across biological barriers including CACO-2 cell monolayers in transwell microtiter plate assays, and metabolism studies. Ms. Hartman is an expert in the performance of tissue culture with fresh cells and established cell lines as well as the growth and expansion of viruses in appropriate target cell populations.

Ms. Hartman graduated from Towson State University in Towson, MD with a B.A. in Biology in 1992 and from the Biomedical Sciences Program at Hood College in Frederick, MD with a M.S. in Biomedical Sciences in 2000. Her thesis at Hood College involved the selection and characterization of viruses resistant to nonnucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, including the evaluation of fitness changes in viruses upon acquisition of resistance engendering amino acid changes. Ms. Hartman joined the research team of Dr. Robert Buckheit in 1992 and is a founding member of the scientific team of ImQuest Biosciences. Since February 2004 she has held the position of Director, Infectious Disease Services. Ms. Hartman is a member or the American Society for Microbiology and International Society for Antiviral Research.

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Dr. Buckheit experience includes expertise in multi-parameter flow cytometry analysis, including immune phenotyping and intracellular cytokine production assays, ELIspot, ELISA and other immunological assays, microscopic imaging (fluorescent microscopy and confocal microscopy), cloning, mutagenesis, quantitative real time-PCR, HIV-1 latency assays, western blot analysis and co-immunoprecipitation, metabolic radiolabeling based assays, and extensive expertise in the use of primary cells. Dr. Buckheit has a strong publication record in virology, immunology, HIV-1 latency and viral dynamics, including both peer-reviewed research articles and reviews/book-chapters.

Dr. Buckheit received a B.S. in Molecular Biology from Lehigh University in 2009. His Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Medicine was received from the Johns Hopkins University in 2013 working in the laboratories of Drs. Bob Siliciano and Joel Blankson where his focus was on HIV virology and understanding the CD8+ T cell mediated immune response to HIV-1 infection. His post-doctoral training was completed at the National Cancer Institute’s HIV Dynamics and Replication Program in the Virus-Cell Interaction section with Eric Freed, with a specific focus on HIV biology and biochemistry, specifically studying host and viral factors associated with the late stages of viral replication and budding. Dr. Buckheit is also an adjunct professor at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Frederick, MD.

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