A Career in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industry

My career in the biotech/pharma industry began somewhat by chance during my academic studies. While studying Chemical Engineering at Georgia Tech, I explored both the industrial and research aspects of chemical engineering through internships and academic lab work. These experiences, along with the economic uncertainty at the time, influenced my decision to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison upon graduating in 2011.

During my Ph.D., I joined a lab focused on metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, where I specialized in microbial engineering and fermentation. This work provided my first exposure to the protein expression and purification space. Post-graduation, I joined Aldevron, a CDMO, where I honed my skills by designing unique purification processes for various recombinant proteins and eventually led a team to establish a fermentation suite.

A relocation to Boston led me to briefly transition to the food biotech industry at a startup, Motif. This experience taught me that my passion lay in pharma, not food, and that early startup culture was not an ideal fit for me at the time. I subsequently joined GSK, where I am currently focused on driving the process development and scale-up of recombinant proteins for GMP manufacturing.

Throughout my career, I have encountered and addressed numerous technical challenges in recombinant protein expression and purification, particularly within the microbial space (e.g., E. coli, yeast). Each recombinant protein presents unique challenges, complicating the development of standardized platform processes. Designing effective expression systems is hindered by IP rights, licensing issues, and market competition, which limit the design-test-build approach to optimization and improvement. Chromatographic purification, while effective, is individualized, making knowledge transfer between targets difficult.

Despite these obstacles, I have embraced opportunities to expand my knowledge base and continually seek roles that challenge me both technically and professionally. Embracing diverse experiences has been crucial to my career growth in the biotech/pharma industry, reinforcing the importance of adaptability and continuous learning.