{"id":1076,"date":"2021-03-23T00:20:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T07:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/68.171.213.235\/forensic-dna-testing\/?page_id=1076"},"modified":"2025-02-10T13:22:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T21:22:23","slug":"seri-staff","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/serological.com\/forensic-dna-testing\/seri-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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GARY HARMOR (ABC-BC, ABC-GKE, ABC-MB)<\/h3>\n

Laboratory Director, Chief Forensic DNA Analyst<\/em><\/p>\n

Texas Forensic Science Commission #764<\/em><\/p>\n

Gary Harmor is a graduate of CSU Sacramento with a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Forensic Science and minors in Chemistry and Biological Science. In 1978, Mr. Harmor started SERI with the late Brian Wraxall, where they spent the entire first year training many present-day criminalists, including a few laboratory directors, all over the country in serological methods. They then spent the next 34 years conducting casework in forensic biology and forensic DNA analysis. Mr. Harmor is now SERI\u2019s Laboratory Director and a Fellow of the American Board of Criminalistics in Forensic Biology with subspecialties in Forensic Biochemistry and Forensic Molecular Biology. He is also a member of the California Association of Criminalists (CAC), the Northwest Association of Forensic Scientists, the California Association of Crime Laboratory Directors (CACLD), and the Association of Forensic Quality Assurance Managers (AFQAM). Mr. Harmor is qualified as an expert in both forensic serology and forensic DNA and has testified in hundreds of cases in 22 states, including over 20 counties in California alone, as well as in federal and military courts. He is experienced in biological screening methods and HLADQ\u03b1, STR and YSTR DNA analysis.\u00a0 Contact Mr. Harmor at\u00a0gharmor@serological.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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ANGELA BUTLER<\/h3>\n

Senior Forensic DNA Analyst, Laboratory Manager<\/em><\/p>\n

Angela Butler is a graduate of the University of San Francisco with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Ms. Butler worked in medical research for three years before joining SERI in 2001 and is currently SERI’s Laboratory Manager and Senior Forensic DNA Analyst. Ms. Butler has examined hundreds of cases while at SERI and is proficient in biological screening methods, STR and YSTR DNA analysis. She is qualified as an expert in both forensic serology and forensic DNA analysis and has testified in many California counties, the states of Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Massachusetts, Florida, Alaska, Iowa, Montana, and New Mexico, and in federal courts.\u00a0 Contact Ms. Butler at\u00a0abutler@serological.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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PHILLIP HOPPER<\/h3>\n

Forensic DNA Analyst IV, Technical Leader<\/em><\/p>\n

Phillip Hopper graduated from Erskine College with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and from the University of California, Riverside with a Master of Science in Chemistry. Mr. Hopper taught chemistry at the community college level for ten years before working for the California Department of Justice as a criminalist for three years. He has been a Forensic DNA Analyst with SERI since 2010 and is currently SERI’s Technical Leader. Mr. Hopper is qualified as an expert in both forensic serology and forensic DNA analysis, and has testified in Arizona, California, Georgia, Washington, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. He is experienced in biological screening methods as well as STR, YSTR, and Mitochondrial DNA analysis.\u00a0 Contact Mr. Hopper at\u00a0phopper@serological.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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ERIN LAURIE<\/h3>\n

Forensic DNA Analyst III, Assistant Technical Leader<\/em><\/p>\n

Texas Forensic Science Commission #1997<\/em><\/p>\n

Erin Laurie earned her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Puget Sound and her Master of Science in Forensic Science from the University of California, Davis. While at UC Davis, Ms. Laurie focused on forensic DNA analysis. For her Master’s thesis, she studied point heteroplasmy mutations in mitochondrial DNA using massively parallel sequencing. She has been at SERI since 2015, and is now a Forensic DNA Analyst II. She is experienced in biological screening methods, STR and YSTR analysis.\u00a0 Contact Ms. Laurie at\u00a0elaurie@serological.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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MALLORY PAGENKOPF<\/h3>\n

Forensic DNA Analyst III<\/em><\/p>\n

Texas Forensic Science Commission #732<\/em><\/p>\n

Mallory Pagenkopf graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and from the University of New Haven with a Master of Science in Forensic Science. Following graduate school, Mrs. Pagenkopf worked for the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) for five years, assisting in the identification of missing service members by mitochondrial and nuclear DNA testing. She joined the SERI team in 2018 as a Forensic Analyst I. She is experienced in biological screening methods, STR, YSTR, and Mitochondrial DNA analysis.\u00a0 Contact Ms. Pagenkopf at mpagenkopf@serological.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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TESSI SHERRIN<\/h3>\n

Forensic DNA Analyst II<\/em><\/p>\n

Tessi Sherrin received her doctorate degree from the National University of Singapore in Pharmacology with specialization in Behavioral Neuroscience.\u00a0 She also has a Master’s in Applied Genetics from Bangalore University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology, Chemistry, and Zoology. Ms. Sherrin was an Assistant Researcher at the University of Hawaii from 2015-2018 and a postdoctoral fellow prior to that for eight years. She then worked at the Honolulu Police Department, HI, as a Criminalist for almost 4 years. She is presently a Forensic DNA Analyst II at SERI and is experienced in biological screening methods as well as STR and YSTR analysis.\u00a0 Contact Ms. Sherrin at\u00a0tsherrin@serological.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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EMILY HARRIS<\/h3>\n

Forensic DNA Analyst II<\/em><\/p>\n

Texas Forensic Science Commission #311<\/em><\/p>\n

Emily Harris is a graduate from the University of Colorado Boulder with a Bachelor of Arts in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and a minor in Sociology, and from the University of Florida with a Masters of Science in Forensic DNA & Serology. Following graduate school, Mrs. Harris worked as a Forensic Scientist in the Biology\/DNA section of the Texas Department of Public Safety Houston Regional Crime Laboratory for four years before joining the SERI team in 2021. She is experienced in biological screening methods, STR, and YSTR analysis.\u00a0 Contact Ms. Harris at\u00a0eharris@serological.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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LEILANI NGUYEN<\/h3>\n

Forensic DNA Analyst I<\/em><\/p>\n

Texas Forensic Science Commission #2454<\/em><\/p>\n

Leilani Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Forensic Science. For her Master\u2019s thesis, Ms. Nguyen studied direct PCR analysis on shed dog hair with the Veterinary Genetics Lab Forensics Unit in Davis, CA. Ms. Nguyen started at SERI in 2019 as an intern and is now a Forensic DNA Analyst I. She is experienced in biological screening methods, STR, and YSTR analysis.\u00a0 Contact Ms. Nguyen at\u00a0lnguyen@serological.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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ZACH LANCH<\/h3>\n

Forensic DNA Analyst I<\/em><\/p>\n

Zachary Lanch graduated from the California State University, East Bay with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with an Forensic Science option. Mr. Lanch started at SERI in 2015 as an Lab Assistant and is now a Forensic DNA Analyst I. He is experienced in biological screening methods, STR, and YSTR analysis. Contact Mr. Lanch at zlanch@serological.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"100-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1076","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serological.com\/forensic-dna-testing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serological.com\/forensic-dna-testing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serological.com\/forensic-dna-testing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serological.com\/forensic-dna-testing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serological.com\/forensic-dna-testing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076"}],"version-history":[{"count":87,"href":"https:\/\/serological.com\/forensic-dna-testing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2428,"href":"https:\/\/serological.com\/forensic-dna-testing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1076\/revisions\/2428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serological.com\/forensic-dna-testing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}