Our Team
Turning Scientific Breakthroughs into Real-World Solutions.

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PureTrace Labs is a technology venture emerging from the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) Venture Studio, a launch platform that connects university research with industry partners to accelerate commercialization. Born from research developed at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), PureTrace Labs bridges the gap between academic innovation and real-world environmental solutions, translating breakthrough analytical methods into tools that help communities detect and act on PFAS contamination faster.

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Cassie Hallberg
CEO

Market builder with Fortune 500 and IPO wins. Moving science from the lab into scalable PFAS solutions.

Commercialization leader with 25+ years across CPG, OTC, pharma, and medical devices. Former senior roles at Johnson & Johnson, Janssen, Sanofi, and Nabisco; eight years in the C-suite scaling venture-backed companies. Helped lead Neuronetics (STIM) to a 2018 IPO, growing revenue from $21M to $52.8M (36% CAGR), with two successful exits overall. At PureTrace, Cassie leads strategy and go-to-market to scale rapid, affordable PFAS testing. Start-Up experience includes: Neocis, Neuronetics, and Insight Pharma. MBA, UC Berkeley (Haas); BA, University of Chicago.

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Inventor of the PS-MS/DPS-MS methods powering PureTrace’s rapid PFAS testing platform.

A professor of Chemistry & Environmental Science at NJIT and an innovator with 25 years’ experience in mass spectrometry. Dr. Chen was trained as a mass spectrometrist by Prof. R. Graham Cooks, a world top-most pioneer of mass spectrometry. Paper Spray MS (PS-MS) and Desalting Paper Spray MS (DPS-MS), enabling rapid, direct PFAS detection in minutes with parts-per-trillion sensitivity; demonstrated non-targeted identification of many PFAS species in a single run. The author of 160+ peer-reviewed papers with 8,000+ citations; research funded by NSF, NIH, USDA, NJHF, Merck, Agilent, and Colgate etc.,. At PureTrace, Dr. Chen leads technology development, validation, and IP strategy.

Dr. Hao Chen
Chief Scientific Officer
Founder & Innovator

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