About NanoPin.

The NanoPin team shares a vision to improve the lives of those afflicted with infectious disease throughout the world. 

Established in 2017

NanoPin Technologies incorporated on April 20, 2017 by Dr. Tony Hu and Dr. Thomas Tombler with a commitment to realize the commercialization of an innovative technology in disease diagnosis.  ​

Our Goal

At NanoPin Technologies, our mission is to advance infectious disease diagnosis and improve patient care using novel diagnostic platforms that produces rapid and accurate results from patient samples. Our versatile platforms address critical needs for current infectious disease epidemics such as tuberculosis (historically the leading cause of death from infectious disease worldwide), HIV, and COVID-19. ​

Our Team

Thomas Tombler, PhD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Tombler, CEO, is a serial entrepreneur with 17 years of executive management experience with a strong background in nanotechnology, operations & strategy, execution and commercializing advanced technology product lines.  He earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Stanford University.   
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Thomas' research success inspired him to pursue the commercialization of nanotechnology enabled products in industry and has since gained extensive expertise in starting and running new companies with applications in electronics, optics, biosensors and diagnostics.  

Christopher Lyon, PhD
VP of R&D

Dr. Lyon has an extensive research background focusing on how metabolic dysfunction alters immune and pro-inflammatory mechanisms to influence disease development and progression, with an emphasis on the discovery of new biomarkers for early disease diagnosis and evaluation treatment responses. He earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from UCLA.

His current research focuses on the development of new experimental approaches that utilize proteomics and the special properties of nanomaterials to enhance the discovery and detection of pathogen-derived biomarkers that can be employed to improve disease diagnosis and evaluation.

Wael Abdelgaliel, PhD
​​Director of Product Development

Dr. Abdelgaliel is a bioanalytical scientist with more than 15 years experience at academic and industrial settings focusing on developing and validating high-throughput techniques for HPLC/UPLC separation and mass spectrometry characterization of peptides and proteins. He earned his Ph.D. in Radiopharmaceuticals at University of Missouri-Columbia.

He leads NanoPin’s efforts in process optimization, automation platforms, and high-throughput screening of assays for various infectious diseases in patient blood sample in the clinical settings.  He is passionately working towards identifying current and future needs to build a technology road map for fast and reliable clinical screening assays. 

Xiao-Ming Yin, MD, PhD, FAASLD, FCAP
​Board of Advisor Member – Clinical Laboratory Services

​Dr. Yin is the Dr. Donald R. Pulizer and Donna G. Pulitzer Professor of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine.  He graduated from Fudan University Shanghai Medical College with an MD and from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas with a PhD, and received his clinical pathology training at Washington University at St Louis.
He is a board-certified pathologist with more than two decades of experience in molecular diagnostics and clinical laboratory operations. He has served as CLIA/CAP-designated director for multiple clinical laboratories that have up to 10 million sample volumes annually. 

​As the Medical consultant and clinical laboratory advisor to NanoPin, Dr. Yin guides our clinical and regulatory strategies for our current and future diagnostic services to include COVID-19, tuberculosis, HIV, NTM and more.

Wilson Zhang, M.D.
Board of Advisor Member            

Dr. Wilson Zhang is a leading figure in the vitro diagnostics industry with over 20 years of experience. Wilson formerly served as the Lead of Strategy and Business Development at Zhejiang Dian Diagnostics Co., one of the largest diagnostic labs in the world, focusing on establishing strategic collaborations with international and domestic IVD companies.
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Dr. Zhang holds an M.D. from Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, an M.Sc. from Rivier University, and executive education at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. 

Elisha Lopez, MSPH, MLS (ASCP)

Elisha is an American Society for Clinical Pathology certified Medical Laboratory Scientist with a clinical laboratory background in molecular pathology, flow cytometry and electrophoresis.  Her primary focus has been working with various infectious agents that have a great impact on human health, particularly in the New Orleans area. 
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She earned her Master’s of Science in Public Health with a concentration in Tropical Medicine degree from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and her Medical Laboratory Science degree from Louisiana State University School of Allied Health Professions.

Science Advisor Professor Tony Hu

As NanoPin’s technology is derived from the research group of Professor Tony Hu, we are pleased that Professor Hu serves as NanoPin’s Science Advisor.  Dr. Hu is the Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Biotechnology Innovation at Tulane University and Director of Tulane’s Center of Cellular and Molecular Diagnosis.  He is a leading researcher in the fields of marker discovery, molecular diagnostics, and nanotechnique-based strategies for biomedical advancement.  Dr. Hu’s research has focused on developing and validating integrated nanotechnique-based strategies for marker discovery and molecular diagnostics in peripheral blood samples to provide a translatable solution for personalized medicine. His innovations fill current gaps in early detection, real-time therapy monitoring and effective prognostics. He has assembled a diverse team with backgrounds in biochemistry, mass spectrometry, nanofabrication, and biomedical engineering to answer these needs.
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Dr. Hu received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin where he focused on developing nanomaterials as biosensors for disease diagnosis. He is extensively published in premier high impact journals and his research team has a history of major grants from the NCI, NIAID, NICHD and DOD and awards from the Gates, Dunn, Kostas, and Cockrell family foundations. His expertise includes in-depth knowledge of multiplex-detection method development for sample processing, mass spectrometry, biomarker identification and validation. Dr. Hu’s background ideally positions him for leadership in these fields and for optimal clinical translation of their platforms for improved and comprehensive analysis of blood-based biomarkers that have broad potential clinical applications.