iTTU Mentor

Lena Zappia

Functional Expertise

• SBIR Grant Writing

• Product Commercialization

• Market Analytics

Industry Expertise

• Vaccine Safety testing

• Insecticides- uses, poisoning

• Molecular biology and immunology

Lena has more than 2 decades of experience working initially as a biomedical researcher before moving into biotech project management and marketing. She has expertise in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant writing, market research, product commercialization, and product launches for both products and services, and has most recently worked for companies that specialize in clinical trials, biosafety and toxicology testing, and diagnostics for insecticide overexposure. Her passion is preparing all of the market analysis (product design specifications, costing/pricing, sales forecasting) needed for product development, then helping to move those products or services out of R&D and into the marketplace. Lena is a graduate of Allegheny College (B.S., Biology) and George Washington University (MBA, Technology Management).