Our Team

Doug Brining

Doug received a B.S. in marine biology from Texas A&M at Galveston, a B.S. in veterinary science from Texas A&M College Station Texas, and his D.V.M. in veterinary medicine from Texas A&M University. Doug has a long career as a laboratory animal veterinarian with a focus on high containment research, including animal study support and oversight at animal biosafety/containment levels 2-4. He has played an active role in the launching of two major U.S. ABSL4 (CL4) facilities during his career including contributions to design, operations, SOP development, and active participation in the first animal work to take place in each of the facilities. Among his many current responsibilities, he oversees all laboratory animal studies undertaken in the Galveston National Laboratory, including well documented/good laboratory practice pre-clinical studies of products destined for U.S. Food and Drug Administration review. His hands on experience with animal models in high biocontainment include all traditional laboratory animal species from mouse to non-human primates, as well as many other less traditional species. He has served as attending veterinarian and program director at multiple institutions including governmental, general academic, and medical school environments. Doug is a Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM).

Stéphane Bourget

Stéphane holds a B.Sc. in microbiology from Université de Montréal, and a M.Sc. in civil engineering from Université Laval. He has taught college microbiology, was Senior Director of Microbiology at Triosyn Corp. where he worked in antimicrobial and aeromicrobiology research and developed and implemented Quality and Biosafety programs before moving on to work for the Public Health Agency of Canada as a biosafety and biocontainment lead inspector, where he inspected numerous Containment Level 2-4 laboratories. During the pandemic, he helped in the emergency deployment and operation of field and mobile labs in Northern mining camps. He acted as Laboratory Director of these labs and successfully developed and implemented Quality and Biosafety Programs in order to get the labs compliant for diagnostic testing.

Stéphane was President of the Canadian Association for Biological Safety and of the Association des Microbiologistes du Québec, as well as on the Board of Directors for the Canadian College of Microbiologists (CCM), and the Canadian Association for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. He was awarded the CCM Distinguished Microbiologist Service Award in 2017.

Joe Tanelli

Gary Kobinger

dlbrining@citadelbiokon.com

gakobinger@citadelbiokon.com

joetanelli@citadelbiokon.com

sbourget@citadelbiokon.com

Joe is a globally recognized expert in biocontainment engineering, biosafety, and laboratory operations. With over two decades of experience, he has played a key role in designing, developing, and optimizing high-containment laboratories and emergency response infrastructures worldwide. His expertise spans mechanical engineering, HVAC systems for specialized facilities, and large-scale project management. As Chief Biocontainment Engineer at the Public Health Agency of Canada, Joe led inspections and evaluations of laboratories handling Risk Group 2, 3, and 4 pathogens across Canada and internationally. His contributions to biocontainment standards and laboratory best practices have influenced biosafety frameworks globally. He also coauthored the World Health Organization’s Laboratory Biosafety Manual, 4th Edition and provided guidance on the certification of Containment Level 3 and 4 laboratories. Joe has deployed internationally, including to Singapore to help develop national level 4 biocontainment standards and to West Africa during the 2015 Ebola outbreak, where he assisted in laboratory safety training and infection prevention efforts. Prior to his public sector work, Joe was Senior Director of Engineering and Manufacturing at Triosyn Corp., where he led multi-million-dollar CBRN protection and biocontainment projects for the U.S. Department of Defense, including designing and constructing N95 manufacturing machines that produced over 30 million respirators.

Gary obtained a Ph.D. magna cum laude from the University of Montréal before completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. He was recruited by the Public Health Agency of Canada where he became the Chief of the Special Pathogens Biosafety Level 4 program at the National Microbiology Laboratory. He then moved to Quebec City to be the Director of the Infectious Disease Research Centre at the Université Laval. In recent years, Gary was the Director of the Galveston National Laboratory, John Sealy Distinguished University Chair in Tropical and Emerging Virology, and Professor Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. His research presently focuses on developing and testing new vaccine platforms and immune treatments against pathogens of high consequence to global public health. He has published extensively on passive immunotherapy, particularly monoclonal antibodies, in murine models for these lethal pathogens. He has considerable experience investigating immune responses to infection against Ebola virus in animals and humans.

Our team consists of experienced, high level International specialists in Biosafety and Biocontainment. We have a surge capacity with skilled collaborators that enable us to take on numerous projects.