Bringing the power of DNA testing to everyone.

Spartan /'sparten/ adj. & n. • adj. 1 of or relating to Sparta in ancient Greece. 2 possessing the qualities of courage, endurance, stern frugality, etc, associated with Sparta.

Spartan Bioscience's CEO and founder is an entrepreneur named Paul Lem. When Paul was a kid, he wanted to invent things to change the world. With this goal in mind, he earned a Medical Degree from the University of Ottawa and did research at Harvard and Stanford. Paul now had experience, but he still needed inspiration.

When a close family member was diagnosed with leukemia, it took weeks to get DNA results back from a lab before starting a life-saving drug. This gave Paul an idea: how could he bring the power of DNA testing out of the lab? How could everyone get access to personal DNA analyzers? After all, diabetic patients can test their blood glucose at home. Why can't we do the same with DNA?

Driven by this mission, Spartan has grown into a leading biotechnology company that has developed the world's smallest DNA analyzer. Spartan's technology is approved by the FDA and has been validated by expert organizations such as the CDC and Mayo Clinic. Spartan's fast, accurate, and affordable products will make DNA testing accessible for everyone, in fields as diverse as infectious disease, precision medicine, food and water safety testing, and veterinary diagnostics.

Medical Need

In the same way that mainframe computers gave way to personal computers, high-throughput DNA testing systems in central labs are giving way to decentralized devices. Stop waiting days to weeks—get rapid results with Spartan.

Environmental Need

Bacterial culture testing with Petri dishes is technology that is 150 years old. Medical diagnostics has replaced it with fast and accurate qPCR technology. Now this trend is coming to environmental water testing. Spartan has developed the first on-site Legionella qPCR test and it enables early detection and decontamination of building water systems.

Applications

Milestones

Bringing the Spartan technology to other industries

Bringing our core patented DNA technology into the hands of everyone means being open to innovation. We believe our products will rise to meet to diagnosis and detection needs beyond the clinical and environmental space.

Spartan's technology is backed by:

2 million hours of R&D

9 patents issued, 6 pending

16 peer-reviewed scientific publications

ISO 12869 validation and ISO 13485 certification

Proven track record in rapid medical diagnostics

Workforce is > 50% molecular biologists and engineers

Management

Paul Lem, M.D.

Founder & CEO

As Spartan's Chief Executive Officer, Paul is responsible for setting the company's strategy and leading its implementation. He also oversees sales and marketing, and ensures that Spartan's culture stays true to its values. Paul co-founded Spartan with John Lem and Dr. Jamie Spiegelman in 2005.

Prior to Spartan, Paul served as Vice President, Product Management at DNA Genotek (acquired by Orasure Technologies). He was also founder and CEO of Plexagen.

Paul holds a bachelor's degree in human biology from the University of Toronto, and a medical degree from the University of Ottawa. He graduated from the inaugural class of Singularity University. In 2010, Paul was honored with the $200K Premier's Catalyst Award for Best Young Innovator.

Blaine Fitzgerald

Chief Financial Officer

Blaine joined Spartan in 2019 and oversees the company's finances.

Blaine has 20 years in finance experience and has held senior roles at Shopify, Curtiss-Wright, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young. At Shopify, Blaine was Vice President of Finance and helped raise more than $1.7B USD overall. Additionally, he was instrumental in Shopify's 2015 IPO and helped scale the company to more than $1B in revenue and over 4000 employees.

Blaine is a Chartered Professional Accountant and holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Simon Fraser University.

Sean Tomalty

Chief Operating Officer

Sean joined Spartan in 2015, and is responsible for the manufacturing of Spartan's instruments and tests.

Sean has more than 30 years of experience in operations and manufacturing at companies including Abbott Point of Care, JDSU, and Nortel. At Abbott, he was Plant Director of a 500,000 square-foot medical device manufacturing facility that produced the i-STAT® portable clinical analyzer and 35 million test cartridges annually.

Sean holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Carleton University and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Queen's University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Nick Noreau

Chief Revenue Officer

Nick joined Spartan in 2019 and is responsible for revenue growth and market expansion for Spartan's diagnostic devices and tests.

Nick has more than 20 years of global sales experience at technology and healthcare companies, including senior leadership roles at Veritaaq, Taima (acquired by Convergys), and Accentus (acquired by Nuance). In 2016, he led an acquisition for Nuance and grew the division's revenues from $30 million to $72 million in 2 years.

Nick holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Ottawa.

Paul Markell

Chief Administrative Officer

Paul joined Spartan in 2007 and he oversees day-to-day operations and quality assurance.

Paul has over 30 years of experience with startups and multinational companies, including chief operating officer at Sciemetric Instruments, and director of finance and operations at Gandalf, a division of Mitel.

Paul holds a bachelor's degree in genetics from the University of Guelph.

Steve Edgett

Executive Vice President

Steve joined Spartan in 2019 and oversees corporate strategy and international business development.

Steve has more than 15 years of experience in business development, strategic planning, and international markets such as the Middle East. He has founded and held senior leadership roles in several high-technology companies, including Knowmadics, Cobham plc, and EMS Technologies (NASDAQ: ELMG). Most recently, Steve was the CEO and President of Nautics Group, a military surveillance company.

Steve holds an honor's bachelor of applied science in systems design engineering from the University of Waterloo.