The Team

Igor Lednev, PhD

Co-Founder and CTO

Igor K. Lednev is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and adjunct Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University at Albany, State University of New York. His research is focused on the development of novel laser spectroscopy for medical diagnostics, forensic purposes and fundamental biophysics of protein folding and aggregation. He has authored over 240 publications in peer-reviewed journals reaching h-index of 61.

Lednev served as an advisory member on the White House Subcommittee for Forensic Science. He was recruited by the United Nations to give a week-long “National Training Course on using vibrational techniques to enhance the forensic analysis” for the National Crime Laboratory of Chile in Santiago in 2020. Together with NIJ, he launched a new NIJ Forensic Science Symposium at Pittcon (the world-largest Analytical Chemistry congress) in 2018; the symposium became a regular annual event including 34 invited talks and a poster session. Lednev serves as Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Analytical Science journal. He is also on the editorial boards of Raman Spectroscopy, Forensic Chemistry, Spectroscopy magazine, High Energy Chemistry journal, and the American Journal of Analytical Chemistry.

Lednev is a Fellow of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy and the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). Media covered his work over 90 times including TV and radio interviews, publications in the Wall Street Journal, Chemical & Engineering News, Forensic Magazine, etc. Discovery Channel Canada featured his work on forensic Raman spectroscopy. Congressman Tonko featured his research at the U.S. House of Representatives Hearing on the advancements in forensic science in September 2019. Dr. Lednev received several prestigious awards including Gold Medal Award from NY/NJ Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, Guest Prof. Fellowship from the Friedrich-Schiller-University, Research Innovation Award from Research Corporation, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, and CAS Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievements in Teaching.

Alexis Weber, MS

Chief Operating Officer

Alexis is a Ph.D. student within the Chemistry Department at the University at Albany, SUNY. She received her B.S. from the University of Central Florida and her M.S. from the University of New Haven. Her research interests focus on the use of spectroscopy for forensic purposes, primarily the analysis of biological fluids and trace evidence.

Marisia Fikiet, PhD

Technical Specialist

Dr. Fikiet is currently a Forensic Scientist at the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center. She received PhD from the University at Albany working on the development of new forensic methods for the analysis of body fluid traces based on Raman spectroscopy and advanced statistics under the advisement of Dr. Lednev.