ElectraTect, Inc. was founded in 2020 based on a study reported by Darzi and Garg earlier that year related to the detection of THC. With the support of Intoxalock, our strategic partner and primary investor, and research collaborations, ElectraTect, Inc. is well poised to become the world leader in cannabis detection technology.
Dr. Evan Darzi
CEO, Co-Founder
Dr. Evan Darzi (U of Oregon, PhD 2016) performed a NIH funded postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA from 2017-2020. Working in collaboration with Dr. Garg at UCLA, Dr. Darzi co-authored four publications and was named an inventor on one patent and one provisional patent application. He received the prestigious UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry Postdoctoral Research Award in 2019. Dr. Darzi is the visionary scientist who developed our THC-detection technology using electrochemistry.
Professor Neil K. Garg
Co-Founder
Dr. Neil Garg (Caltech, PhD 2005) is a Distinguished Professor and holds the Trueblood Endowed Chair at UCLA. He is also the current Department Chair for UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry.
Dr. Garg excels in research, teaching, scientific communication, and administration. He has received more than 45 awards since joining the UCLA faculty in 2007 and has published more than 125 publications and patents.
Dr. Christina Forbes
Director of Research
Dr. Christina Forbes (University of Delaware, PhD 2016) comes from a diverse background in chemistry, from designing bio-inspired electrocatalysts, to synthesizing non-natural amino acids, to making structural switches in peptides.
As a Postdoctoral Scholar at ASU, she took on laboratory management and safety responsibilities for her group, earning a Laboratory Safety Innovation Award for her lab. She also has a passion for science outreach, and loves to talk about chemistry with the general public.
Dr. Randall Hellman
Director of Hardware
Dr. Randall Hellman (Arizona State University, PhD 2016) has been involved in researching and developing complex mechatronic hardware from early prototyping to production. His work initially focused on advancing robotic haptic systems and has since evolved to include service robotics, surgical robotics, and wearable BLE sensor development.
His contributions include three patents for surgical teleoperation systems, algorithms, and robotic actuators. He has led the development of novel mechatronic devices and is excited to tackle the mechatronic hardware needs at ElectraTect.
Dr. Di Huang
Principal Scientist
Dr. Di Huang (Michigan Technological University, PhD 2020) comes from a materials science & engineering background from Michigan Technological University. Her research specializes in the ion/proton exchange membrane in electrodialysis and fuel cell applications.
She has 5 years research experiences on conductive membrane and membrane electrolyte assembly, including membrane synthesis, surface modification, characterization and electrochemical devices (electrodialysis cell and fuel cell) working performance tests. Di Huang received the MTU Finishing Research Award in 2020. She has great enthusiasm to fuel cell field and always wants to explore this technique in other related applications.
Erin Mulhern-Guillier
Associate Scientist
Erin Mulhern-Guillier is a magna cum laude graduate from ASU with her bachelor's in Chemical Engineering. Her studies gave her a diverse background in science with particular interests in biochemistry, organic chemistry, and reaction engineering. She is also a certified EIT and enthusiastic about working with a small but diverse team.
Kayla Merker
Associate Scientist
Kayla was born and raised in Arizona and completed her BS in Evolutionary Biology from The University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. As an undergraduate student, she developed a passion for organic chemistry and obtained her master's degree in Chemistry from the School of Molecular Sciences at ASU. Her research efforts featured biocatalytic heterocycle synthesis and functionalization reactions. She also has research experience in synthetic methods that enable the construction of biomacromolecules. At Electratect, she is eager to explore chemical reactivity in complex molecule synthesis.
Nina Dimitrov
Executive Assistant
Nina Dimitrov has a bachelor’s degree from ASU’s School of Educational Innovation and Teacher Preparation and a Master’s in the study of STEM education from the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. She also holds certification in secondary Montessori from the American Montessori Society.
Nina transitioned out of the classroom in 2021, joining ElectraTect in 2022. She has experience working within education and office administration in various settings and is happy to be supporting the innovative team at ElectraTect.
Katie Spence
Katie Spence is a PhD candidate in the Garg Lab at UCLA, where she specializes in organic chemistry and synthesis. Since joining the Garg Lab, she has co-authored three publications and was named a co-author on one patent. Her work in the UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry Department led her to receive the Charles J. Pedersen Excellence in Research and Michael E. Jung Excellence in Teaching Awards. She is currently performing collaborative research with ElectraTect, Inc.
Daniel Nasrallah
Dr. Daniel Nasrallah (University of Michigan, PhD 2020) specializes in the development of new organic methods and has a passion for teaching. He is currently the Donald J. Cram Assistant Adjunct Professor of Organic Chemistry at UCLA, and conducts postdoctoral research in the Garg lab. He has co-authored nine publications since he began conducting research as a 1st-year undergraduate student. He is currently performing collaborative research with ElectraTect, Inc.
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