Dr. Emmanuel Raptakis

Dr. Emmanuel Raptakis is Fasmatech’s CEO. Dr. Raptakis has extensive experience in modeling, design and development of mass spectrometry instrumentation. His undergraduate work included the development of a prototype mass spectrometer in the Department of Physics, University of Crete, and the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL) of the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH). This was followed by doctoral studies completed at the University of Warwick in England. During his PhD Dr. Raptakis worked under the supervision of Prof. Peter Derrick. His projects included a hybrid double-focusing – time-of-flight MALDI mass spectrometer with high energy CID capabilities, designed and built under the leadership of Dr. Alexander Makarov. Dr. Raptakis was also involved in the design and built of several novel time-of-flight instruments, including ideal reflectrons.

ER’s extensive industrial experience involved the design, construction and management of mass spectrometry products in a multinational MS company (Kratos Analytical Ltd., Manchester, UK, a Shimadzu Group Company). Dr Raptakis was instrumental in the design of the AXIMA series of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometers. As Technical Manager of the MALDI – Ion Trap – TOF group, Dr. Raptakis had the privilege to work closely with Koichi Tanaka, 2002 Nobel Laureate, attributed with the discovery of laser desorption and ionization of large macromolecules. The AXIMA Resonance instrument, originally launched in 2002 under the AXIMA QIT brand, still has industry leading capabilities in accurate and sensitive mass measurement of MALDI ions and their MSn fragments.

After completing an MBA at Manchester Business School (Executive Programme), ER was appointed Product/Business Manager at Kratos Analytical MALDI MS division. From this position, Dr Raptakis had the general supervision of all MALDI Mass Spectrometry products of Kratos Analytical, sold under the global brand AXIMA. The primary responsibility was the management of the Marketing Department, the Sales/Distribution Relations, Customer support/Service team and Business Development. Additionally, in collaboration with the respective department managers, there was horizontal responsibility in Research and Development, Production and Quality Departments.

Under the leadership of Dr. Raptakis and the rest of the Senior Management team Kratos Analytical implemented a strategy to improve the quality and profitability of the products, leading to a dramatic reduction in the cost of quality. Dr Raptakis initiated collaboration with Anagnostec, to develop and sell a complete platform for identification of microorganisms with MALDI mass spectrometry. This major business development project was successfully concluded when the partners signed agreements with bioMerieux, a global market leader in microbial ID and clinical diagnostics to develop the VITEK MS product and market it globally. The new strategic positioning of Kratos required a major change program to prepare the company for ISO13485 quality system certification.