Meet the team
Dr. Jon Dobson
Co-Founder/CTO
Jon Dobson is Emeritus J Crayton Pruitt Family Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida. He graduated with a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Florida and a PhD in Natural Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH-Zurich. He did his postdoctoral training at both the ETH-Zurich and The University of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the US National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), The Royal Society of Biology, The Royal Society of Medicine, and a past Royal Society of London Wolfson Research Merit Fellow. In 2008, he was selected for the UK Medical Research Council’s César Milstein Award. He was the 2019 Weldon School of Engineering Distinguished Lecturer at Purdue University, the Page Morton Hunter Distinguished Lecturer at Clemson University in 2012, and recipient of the International Journal of Nanomedicine’s Distinguished Scientist Award in 2017. Professor Dobson has authored or co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications in top international journals such as Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, and ACS Nano. His >25,000 citations make him one of the 50 most highly cited researchers in regenerative medicine in the world, according to Google Scholar. He has 37 US and world-wide patents awarded or pending, and is co-founder of four spin-off companies.
Dr. Peter McFetridge
Peter McFetridge has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Bath University in the United Kingdom and is Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at UF. He has pioneered novel growth factor technologies and bioreactor designs for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Dr. McFetridge’s research has focused on exploring a variety of materials that have both direct clinical application as well as the potential to deepen the understanding of both biological and engineering principles. His work utilizes human tissue that is processed into functional biomaterials – termed ex vivo-derived tissue implants. Dr. McFetridge’s overarching research objective is to create functional organs and tissues that can be used in replacement therapies.
Dr. McFetridge’s research has been at the forefront of biomaterials applications using human placental tissues as both direct implants and as platforms for guided tissue regeneration. These materials have rapidly found a place in the clinic in variety of applications, blood vessels, tendons, nerves. He has been recognized for his innovative successes as a two-time recipient of the University of Florida Technology Innovator Award and the Innovator of the Year by The Journal Record. His research and excellence in science and engineering has been recognized through the Japanese BME TOIN award and by the Japan Research Institute of Material Technology.
Co-Founder/CSO
Kate Dobson
Co-Founder/Product Development, Design and Marketing
Kate Dobson has a BA in Environmental Geoscience with a minor in Anthropolgy from the University of Florida. She has worked for the multi-national environmental science firm, Cardno, and was a Product Development Associate at 42Bio, before co-founding Blackfish. In her professional role, Kate has worked in both biotechnology and environmental analysis laboratories. In addition to her lab work, she has drawn upon her studies in digital anthropology and her interests in art and design to run digital marketing campaigns and graphic design projects for product branding and packaging.
Jamie Grooms
Chairman of the Board
Jamie Grooms has a B.Sc. in Biology from Old Dominion University and has spent more than 30 years as a successful entrepreneur in the regenerative healthcare industry. He worked for for tissue donation and grafting companies before co-founding RTI Biologics (now RTI Surgical), a University of Florida spin-off. Following the success of RTI, Jamie co-founded two more regenerative medicine companies, Axogen (Nasdaq: AXGN), where he served as board chairman for eight years, and NextGen Biologics.
Calum McFetridge
R&D Lead
Calum McFetridge has a B.Sc. In Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida. He spent four years as a Biomedical Engineering Researcher at UF while concurrently working as a Research Intern at 42Bio for two years. Upon graduation Calum was hired as R&D Engineer at 42Bio before joining Blackfish.
Max Keesecker
Finance Manager
Max Keesecker is an experienced Financial Solutions Advisor and Consultant with a BA in Criminology from the University of North Florida. He has five years' experience as a Financial Solutions Advisor with Merrill Lynch / Bank of America. In addition, Max has significant experience with WMW, iSERVE, Synergy Web, PCOE and Seibel software systems. He is trained and certified in in General Securities Representation / Licensed Series 7 and Series 66. He spent eight years in the US Coast Guard Reserve (Boatswain’s Mate Second Class: E-5).
Rachel Garner
R&D Engineer
Rachel Garner is a recent graduate from the University of Florida (UF) with a B.Sc in Biomedical Engineering. In addition to running wet lab experiments, she has helped write an IRB proposal and multiple grants during her 5 years of research with the Department of Material Science and Engineering at UF. Passionate about translating scientific advancements into meaningful patient care solutions, she is motivated to help drive research and innovation in health-related studies.
