Steven (Steve) Manning, Ph.D., is a staff scientist with expertise in polymer and physical chemistries. He provides technical perspective and expertise in determining regulatory compliance for food, drug, and medical device products within the global food and drug industry.

Steve assists the firm’s attorneys and clients by providing technical guidance on regulatory filings for food contact materials, including Food Contact Notifications (FCNs) and plastic recycling process submissions, as well as the rigorous chemical and mathematical aspects of the firm’s legal opinion letters. He also develops exposure models for assessing compliance of consumer products under the regulatory requirements of California’s Proposition 65. Based on his prior experience facilitating industrial product development, Steve provides guidance in drafting analytical test protocols that maximize the commercial benefit of chemical testing across product lines. He has extensive experience drafting chemical testing plans in support of both novel and established food contact materials from an internal quality control, safety, and risk management perspective.

Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, Steve gained research experience in both industry and government settings, solving engineering challenges arising during product development. In the biotechnology sector, he led a chemical support team for new product research and development of consumer aerosols. Additionally, he worked to develop and implement analytical methods for mobile chemical support of microbiology, entomology, and fragrance product divisions, assisting in meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration requirements throughout the process. This experience allows him to assist our partners and clients with developing analytical testing plans to facilitate product development and regulatory compliance while maximizing the commercial benefit of the testing.

Steve earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry, with his dissertation research focusing on the development of stimuli-responsive nanogel polymers as ratiometric fluorescent temperature sensors.

Memberships

• American Chemical Society (ACS)