Astrotech Corporation announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Thomas B. Pickens III to serve as its Chief Technology Officer (“CTO”) in conjunction with his current duties as Chief Executive Officer. In 2017, Mr. Pickens oversaw the Company's evaluation of possibilities around a point-of-care mass-spec breath analysis device using the AMS Technology. Due to the worldwide effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company formed BreathTech Corporation and began the commercialization of the BreathTest-1000™ COVID-19 rapid detection device.

During the development of this product, Mr. Pickens has been a valued team member in the discovery and development of the method to detect the compounds associated with COVID-19 lung infections. Moreover, Mr. Pickens led the effort that found and hired Dr. Karim Sirgi, MD, MBA and FCAP as BreathTech's Chief Science Officer. Dr. Sirgi is helping lead clinical trial and in vivo sample collection efforts with Cleveland Clinic and Mountain View Clinical Research.

Mr. Pickens also leads the team that is developing applications for the AMS Technology in the distillation of essential oils using molecular distillation systems, including the manufacturing of hemp and cannabis oils. Mr. Pickens has been instrumental in process to accurately qualify and quantify chemical compounds using technology. To commercialize this application, Mr. Pickens brought to the team Joe Levinthal, a distillation veteran with extensive mass spectrometry experience, as the Chief Science Officer at AgLAB Inc.