Dr. Loken received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Biology Department at the John Hopkins University. He continued his training as a postdoctoral fellow in the Genetics Department at Stanford University, working with Dr. L.A. Herzenberg on the first fluorescence activated cell sorter. After 5 years the faculty at the University of Chicago, Dr. Loken joined Becton Dickinson as one of the founding scientists at the Monoclonal Center. He began his studies of normal blood cell development in 1978 and continued this work throughout the time at Becton Dickinson. He developed many techniques in the field of flow cytometry to quantify multiple antibodies simultaneously. He has mapped antigen expression in normal bone marrow, carefully characterizing intensities and relationships of multiple cellular antigens. Dr. Loken and collaborators were the first to show that neoplastic cells are not a frozen state of normal maturation but exhibit aberrant antigen expression (see Innovations & inventions). Dr. Loken has 10 issued patents and has published over 175 scientific articles in the field of flow cytometry and hematology
Since 2004 Dr. Zehentner has been validating and overseeing a comprehensive, clinical molecular test menu for leukemia, lymphoma and solid tumor diagnostics at HematoLogics Inc., in Seattle, WA. Her principal interests lie in providing high quality laboratory results to ensure the best patient care as well as understanding and combing the value of different testing modalities to increase sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic confidence. Dr. Zehentner received her master’s degree in biotechnology from the Professional College in Weihenstephan, Germany and her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University RWTH in Aachen, Germany, where she graduated Summa cum laude. Dr. Zehentner has more than 15 years of experience in molecular assay development, previously working for Boehringer Mannheim and Roche Diagnostics, Germany, as well as for Corixa Corporation in Seattle as a molecular diagnostics project leader.
Dr. Wells is board certified in Laboratory Medicine with specialty training in Hematopathology. Drs. Wells’ and Loken’s professional approach, validated by clinical studies and participation in patient care, has moved flow cytometry from an adjunct analysis to a primary diagnostic tool. She has 17 years experience in flow cytometry and has published 28 scientific articles including developing a flow cytometric scoring system for myeloid and monocytic aberrancies to enhance diagnostic and prognostic accuracy in myelodysplastic syndrome.