Jason Kramer
Marshfield,MA
Overview
30
30
years of professional experience
Work History
Staff Field Applications Scientist
Illumina
04.2023 - Current
- Support in-district and AMR-wide commercial initiatives including customer onboarding, Field Application Scientist product and workflow training and general troubleshooting support.
- Continue to independently manage territory accounts to ensure customer satisfaction, enablement and instrument pull-through. Provide customer updates and visits when needed.
- Serve as a leadership and mentor role within the New England district by supporting FAS colleagues and management when needed.
- 11 years
Senior Field Applications Scientist
Illumina
06.2017 - Current
- Provides technical expertise and guidance to customers related to installation, training, and troubleshooting on Illumina equipment and applications. Onboards customers, and coordinates installation and training on all Illumina platforms. Onboard customers and help troubleshooting efforts remotely and at the customer sites within the Greater Boston area. Aid customers with performance, issues, and goals.
- Coordinates complex troubleshooting with Field Service Engineers and other levels of second level support to coordinate repair and replacement strategies and coordinates with Field Service Engineers and Sales to resolve complicated issues.
- Assists the local sales team with pre-sales efforts by providing technical expertise in lab setup and operation, applications and instrumentation, data analysis and troubleshooting.
- 8 years 3 months
Field Applications Scientist
Illumina
09.2014 - 06.2017
- Provided training and troubleshooting support to Illumina NGS customers. Assist customers in onboarding and continued operation with pre-sales and post-sales activities including customer site prep visits and post-training data review.
- 2 years 10 months
Project Manager
Brooks Automation
12.2013 - 09.2014
- Manage cross functional teams to facilitate building, testing, installation and operation of automated cold storage systems.
- Ensure project planning, tasks, tracking and communications between Engineering, Manufacturing, Software and Service while ensuring customer milestones are reached.
- Manage project budget and cost forecasting using available resources.
- Conduct factory and on-site acceptance tests to verify operation.
- Train customers on system usage and software operation.
- 10 months
Staff Customer Support
Illumina
11.2012 - 12.2013
- Ensure validation of technical parameters of orders and work with internal and external contacts to ensure accuracy, completeness, and technical feasibility.
- Oversee, train and mentor new employees (internal & remote) using necessary systems used for global Customer Support.
- Use wide-ranging experience to Recommend products to customers based on their specific needs and interests.
- Participate in alpha testing environments both in-laboratory and via web communication
- Provide customers with order verification, updates on delivery dates, product availability and pricing while accurately entering orders within system.
- Participate in functional core teams to ensure Customer Solution’s needs are considered during new product development.
- Maintain contacts and work closely with Technical Support, Manufacturing, Finance, Sales and Marketing to ensure that Illumina provides world-class experiences for their customers.
- 1 year 2 months
Research Laboratory Manager
Arizona State University
07.2009 - 11.2012
- Created and implemented a Next-Generation Sequencing Core Facility using Illumina platforms GAIIx and HiSeq, the first of their kind at Arizona State University
- Developed a high-throughput, capillary-based DNA sequencing Core Facility within ASU with a capacity of 20,000 samples per month
- Ordered, tested and implemented an automated -80 freezer system to store > 200,000 Plasmid samples, the first instrument of its kind within an academic institution
- Oversee plasmid intake and distribution pipelines for a collection of >200,000 plasmids including QC and repository maintenance as needed
- Manage the daily laboratory duties of the core facility staff of 3 technicians
- Routinely interact with Repository and Sequencing users regarding quality, turn-around-time, pricing and delivery
- Create and distribute monthly billing invoices for Core Facility and ensure all Core financial duties are complete
- 3 years 5 months
Core Operations Director
Harvard Medical School/Dana Farber Cancer Center
10.2003 - 07.2009
- Manage daily laboratory duties of the core facility staff of 5 technicians
- Oversee accurate processing of approximately 15,000 DNA sequencing samples per month
- Oversee plasmid intake and distribution pipelines for a collection of >20,000 plasmids
- Manage monthly billing invoices totaling nearly $1,000,000 per year
- Design and implement new protocols for automated DNA sequencing, plasmid intake, plasmid distribution and DNA preparation, including coordination with robotic and software engineers
- Maintain laboratory workflow and customer satisfaction to the highest degree
- Regularly meet with DF/HCC leadership and Harvard Medical School financial managers to discuss daily operations and future plans for the core facility
- Order laboratory supplies while maintaining a workable budget
- Negotiate with reagent and consumables vendors for workable pricing and applicable discounts
- 5 years 10 months
Supervisor/Senior Research Associate
Millennium Pharmaceuticals
10.2000 - 10.2003
- Effectively and efficiently coordinated acquisition, processing and delivery of more than 50,000 samples per month submitted by in-house 'customers'
- Supervised and assigned daily sequencing tasks to eight employees
- Helped design and implement systems and laboratory processes, including; Software development
- Improvements to throughput and process flow
- Personnel training and implementation of new platforms
- Presented monthly updates of throughput to entire production department.
- Served as a liaison between Quality, Finishing, and Clone Picking groups
- Achieved proficiency in routine execution and troubleshooting of DNA isolation, gel electrophoresis and PCR reactions, in addition to staying current in the field of DNA sequencing
- Exhibited excellent lab management skills, including careful oversight of equipment maintenance and stockroom duties
- 3 years 1 month
Consultant
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
06.2001 - 06.2001
- Consulted with the CSHL genomics sequencing lab on proper usage and set up of capillary sequencing instruments
- Assisted with setting up mechanisms for troubleshooting and data management
- Teaching Assistant, CSHL annual Advanced Genome Sequencing and Analysis Course
- 1 month
Production Coordinator
Washington University
09.1998 - 10.2000
- Gained expertise in phage and plasmid DNA isolation; primer-labeled and dye-terminator sequencing methodologies; and operation of ABI 377 and 3700 series sequencing instruments
- Coordinated the throughput of 50,000 sequences per week
- Managed daily operations and workflow of 25 employees
- Increased the throughput from 30,000 to 50,000 samples in a two month time period
- Prepared and presented training materials to new employees
- Implemented quality assurance and assisted in troubleshooting of the sequencing process
- Finished over 500kb of genomic sequence using Consed and other Unix-based software
- Collaborated with other groups at the center, including the Research & Development and Library Processing groups
- 2 years 2 months
Lab Coordinator
Washington University Genome Center
01.1998 - 01.2000
- Managed laboratory data throughput
- Operated and maintained ABI 373 and 377 DNA sequencing instruments
- 2 years
Assistant Production Coordinator
Washington University Genome Sequencing Center
04.1996 - 08.1998
- Managed a team of 6 employees to efficiently supply and operate Perkin-Elmer 373 and 377 DNA sequencing instruments
- Tracked an average of 125 genomic clones per month through the shotgun sequencing process using public and in-house Unix-based software
- Reviewed employees and assisted in employee development via training and development programs and personal oversight and interaction
- Collaborated with other groups at the center to achieve high-throughput sample processing
- Supplied the Production Group with 32,000 phage and plasmid transformations per week
- 2 years 5 months
Production Technician
Washington University Genome Sequencing Center
07.1995 - 03.1996
- Produced M13 phage and plasmid DNA for high-throughput sequencing
- 9 months
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Biology
Blackburn College
01.1993
Skills
- DNA Sequencing both Sanger and NGS Illumina
- QPCR
- Molecular Biology
- PCR
- Customer Facing and Onboarding
Accomplishments
2018 Illumina Service and Support Distinction Award
2019 Illumina Service and Support Premier Award
2024 Illumina Service and Support Distinction Award
Publications
- Protein Structure Initiative Material Repository: an open shared public resource of structural genomics plasmids for the biological community
- PlasmID: a centralized repository for plasmid clone information and distribution
Timeline
Staff Field Applications Scientist
Illumina
04.2023 - Current
Senior Field Applications Scientist
Illumina
06.2017 - Current
Field Applications Scientist
Illumina
09.2014 - 06.2017
Project Manager
Brooks Automation
12.2013 - 09.2014
Staff Customer Support
Illumina
11.2012 - 12.2013
Research Laboratory Manager
Arizona State University
07.2009 - 11.2012
Core Operations Director
Harvard Medical School/Dana Farber Cancer Center
10.2003 - 07.2009
Consultant
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
06.2001 - 06.2001
Supervisor/Senior Research Associate
Millennium Pharmaceuticals
10.2000 - 10.2003
Production Coordinator
Washington University
09.1998 - 10.2000
Lab Coordinator
Washington University Genome Center
01.1998 - 01.2000
Assistant Production Coordinator
Washington University Genome Sequencing Center
04.1996 - 08.1998
Production Technician
Washington University Genome Sequencing Center
07.1995 - 03.1996
Bachelor of Arts - Biology
Blackburn College