Staff

In 2006, Mr. Berger established VRL China, offering a complete line of diagnostic services then in 2014 growth continued when he purchased the BioReliance Animal Health Services division as part of an expansion plan for offering diagnostics of rodents, rabbits and other research service models. Mr. Berger earned his B.A. in Mathematics (minor in Chemistry) in 1971 from St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas. He has spent most of his career working in IT and specifically programming. His knowledge and expertise of programming has enabled the company to maximize efficiencies and turnaround times for clients.

Pitts joined VRL in 2018 as the Director of Business Development and Marketing after working with VRL as an outside consultant focusing on sales and growth strategies. His scientific background combined with his marketing expertise has given VRL a strong vision for moving forward in the competitive area of animal diagnostic testing, and he looks forward to expanding VRL’s diagnostic testing offerings.

For much of his career, Dr. Mota has studied many of the world’s deadliest Infectious Diseases, including Dengue Fever, Malaria, Chagas disease, HIV, and Tuberculosis. Throughout his career, Dr. Mota worked at some of the world’s most influential institutions in Infectious Diseases, such as The National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, and The University of Texas institutions. Dr. Mota received many awards in his early career from notable organizations, such as UNICEF and WHO, and has been the co-investigator in many funded research projects. Among his many achievements, he developed a unique humanized mouse to study the infectious process of Dengue fever and developed an immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescence analysis to track vaccine expression in tissue from SIV infected/vaccinated non-human primates. Dr. Mota’s research has been cited by many of his peers, and his contributions to the field of flaviviruses have been instrumental in better understanding disease pathogenesis and progression. Dr. Mota joined VRL Laboratories in January of 2022, joining us from the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute where he served as a Research Scientist. Since then, Dr. Mota has been presenting VRL’s Research and Development projects in national and international scientific conferences, emphasizing VRL’s interest in the gene therapy field and other bioanalytical areas. Since 2023, Dr. Mota serves as the Director, based in VRL San Antonio, where he oversees the day-to-day operations of all our scientific teams. As the Sr. Principal Scientist, Dr. Mota is also personally involved in all Preclinical Bioanalysis operations and is always looking forward to assisting VRL’s customers achieve their scientific goals through carefully developed diagnostic tools.

Prior to joining VRL Canada, Dr. Martinez worked as Scientific Director for FoodChek Systems and Labplas. She significantly contributed to the growth up and success of these companies, which had benefited from her capacity to lead and innovate in the development of diagnostic and environmental sampling products. Additionally, she has extensive experience in planning, managing, and implementing Level 2 containment facilities, with markedly improved laboratory security as well as compliance with regulatory requirements. Respect for others, implication and concern for good work guarantee her customers’ satisfaction.

In 2023, she joined the VRL family to leverage her knowledge and experience in establishing VRL Canada to effectively serve the Canadian market.

Dr. Moll has wide-ranging experience in the field of diagnostic assay development for IVD medical device products as a researcher, as well as director of end-stage product development. This experience includes the successful development of diagnostic tests for genetics-based ailments such as Alzheimer’s disease and thrombophilia, as well as the development of a medical device capable of detecting antibiotic-resistant STIs (sexually transmitted infections). His experience includes stints at Human Genome Sciences, Canon U.S. Life Sciences, and Becton Dickinson at various manager-level and director level positions.  Jon joined VRL diagnostics in 2023 and has been using his diagnostic assay development experience to improve and extend VRL’s capabilities in the field of animal health diagnostics.