about
Textco BioSoftware (formerly Textco, Inc.), has been developing high quality productivity tools for molecular biologists for over 25 years. Our unwavering commitment to customer service, and our focus on quality has generated a loyal customer following. Since 1984, we have provided solutions to scientists who are breaking new ground in genetic engineering, basic biology research, drug development, and biotechnology - at academic, government, and corporate institutions in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Textco BioSoftware's Principals
Robert H. Gross, Ph.D., President - Dr. Gross is co-founder and President of Textco BioSoftware and serves to validate and drive the direction of product development. He received a B.E.S. in Engineering Sciences and an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, New York), and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland).
Dr. Gross is an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College and is Director of the Center for Biological and Biomedical Computing (CBBC). He has published numerous scientific research papers in the fields of snRNAs, RNA splicing, heat shock, and computational biology, and he currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Familial Dysautonomia Foundation (New York, New York).
His current research focuses on computational molecular biology methods, in an effort to better understand gene regulation and to develop new ways to search genomes for regulatory sequence motifs and identify regulatory motifs in mRNAs. Dr. Gross' laboratory developed the SCOPE algorithm - designed to identify potential regulatory DNA motifs from sets of genes that are coordinately regulated.
Roberta Brucks Gross, Vice President - Ms. Gross helped co-found the company. As Vice President of Sales and Marketing, she oversees sales and marketing initiatives for Textco BioSoftware, and works directly with customers. Ms. Gross received a B.A. in mathematics from the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY Albany), and attended graduate school at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland).
Before moving into the field of scientific software, Ms. Gross taught mathematics in the Baltimore City public school system. Since 1979 she has been an active volunteer and advocate in New Hampshire for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. In 2005 she was appointed by the Governor of New Hampshire to serve on a gubernatorial study commission which looked into the effectiveness and efficiency of the state system serving people with disabilities. She currently serves on two Advisory Boards at the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD).
J. Brant Hackett, Director of Sales and Operations - Mr. Hackett manages the day-to-day operations for the company, and serves as the gateway between customers and the product development team, gathering and validating feature and functionality requests for implementation consideration. Mr. Hackett holds a B.S. degree in Biological Sciences from NC State University (Raleigh, North Carolina).
Prior to joining Textco BioSoftware, Mr. Hackett worked as a Product Marketing Manager for SciQuest, Inc. where he was responsible for the successful launch, adoption and market penetration of their biological software solutions. Before moving into the field of scientific software and technology, he held a research technician position at NC State University in the laboratory of Dr. Trudy F.C. Mackay, the 2004 Genetics Society of America Medal recipient. Over a period of five years he investigated the genetic and environmental factors that affect variation in quantitative traits in the model organism, Drosophila Melanogaster. His contributions led to the co-authorship of four papers published in the Journals of Genetics, Evolution and Genetical Research.
Steve Graesser, Lead Software Engineer - Mr. Graesser leads the software engineering team for Textco BioSoftware, working on new software product development as well as product maintenance and quality assurance. He has over 25 years of experience developing commercial software products. Mr. Graesser received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan) and a M.S. degree in Engineering from San Jose State University (San Jose, California).
Prior to working with Textco BioSoftware, Mr. Graesser worked as a Management Consultant for KPMG Peat Marwick (Mountain View, California) specializing in Mac OS application development and electronic commerce web sites. He was named a Senior Member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.), and he has published several papers about testing semiconductor memory devices.
