Fellow presentation and intro to your career path
Hello, my name is Aasish Pradhananga and I am a biochemist working on gene and cell therapy. I am from Nepal and first came to the United States as an international student to pursue my dream of studying abroad. I arrived with two large suitcases and even larger dream to pursue my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota.
I was inspired by my big brother, who is a remarkably successful clinical biochemist, to pursue a degree in biochemistry. When I was in middle school, I used to see my brother travel around the world to attend conferences and give presentations. I wanted to follow him and become a biochemist myself as I, too, wanted to travel around and contribute to science.
During my junior and senior years in college, I was fascinated by how we can use cell therapies to treat rare diseases and it was then I decided to join the biotech industry to contribute to advance cell therapy treatments. After graduation, I joined a biotech company where I worked as an analytical method validation analyst. It was at this time that I was able to learn a lot about the work and get familiar with different analytical instruments used in the industry. I worked at this company for a year and was able to leverage my knowledge and industry experience to land myself a role at a prominent biotech company advancing allogeneic cell therapies for cancer and solid tumors.
Currently, I am working as a method development associate, and I am very much focused on developing in vitro assays to evaluate the potency of investigational drug products. I have expertise in developing in vitro assays to characterize and release cell therapy drug products and am always eager to talk about the future of cell and gene therapy. I consider myself fortunate to be working with the experts and pioneers in gene editing platforms and I hope to contribute, from my part, to advance cell therapies in patients and make a positive impact on their life.
Biotechnology Industry career options
Biotech industry is a very fast paced and competetive industry where you not only get to contribute ti groundbreaking discoveries but also get a sense of purpose by addressing some of society’s most critical issues. There are a lot of career paths to choose from once you get an understanding of your passion and your interest. From manufacturing to product release and stability testing, you can choose which areas you want to work on and make decisions based on your interest. Below are some of the career path that I beleive would make the most sense. I would note that if you do not feel comfortable at your work and find something more interesting, you should not hesitate to switch to that department as work life balace is very critical aspect of life.
- Research Associate/scientist
As a research associate/scientist in biotech or biopharmaceutical industry, you are responsible for working/collaborating with scientists and researchers on various research projects. You are responsible for conducting laboratory experiments, collecting results, and analyzing the data. Furthermore, you are also required to review scientific literature and help develop research proposals and publications.
- Analytical Development Analyst
This role is a specialized role in biotech and biopharmaceutical industry where you develop and validate analytical methods and techniques used for testing and analyzing drugs and pharmaceutical products. As an analytical development analyst, you play a critical role in ensuring the safety and efficacy of drug products.
- Quality Control Analyst/ Scientist
A QC (Quality Control) Analyst/Scientist is a professional working in biotech, biopharmaceutical, manufacturing or food production company, whose main responsibility is to test the product to ensure that product meets specific quality and safety standards before they reach consumers. QC analysts perform a range of tasks, including inspecting and testing products, raw materials, analyzing data and comparing results against pre-defined quality criteria. They are often undervalued but they play a key role in improving manufacturing processes to meet quality standards and regulatory requirements.
Main hard skills you use on daily basis in your current job
As an analytical development associate, most of my work is focused on designing, optimizing and validating analytical techniques to evaluate investigational cellular therapy products. This role requires an extensive background in analytical techniques and instrumentation. Below are some of the technical skills that I use most often at my workplace.
- Cell Culture and cell bank preparation
Cell culture is a valuable skill for anyone who is working on cell-based assays or experiments. As I work on a lot of invitro assays to evaluate the potency of cell-therapy products, it is imperative that I have a strong background in cell culture. I perform cell culture of various lymphoblast cells to test the potency of investigational drug products. Additionally, I also prepare cell banks of different mammalian cell lines so that I can use it for my method development work. You need to focus very much on your aseptic techniques when you are working with cell cultures, otherwise you will contaminate the cells. Always perform cell cultures in a bio-safety cabinet to avoid any kind of contamination.
- Analytical Instrumentation Expertise
As an analytical associate, I work with various analytical instruments in the laboratory to analyze the data. I work on a lot of plate-based assays, and through my work, I have developed expertise in using spectrophotometric plate readers. I also have experience using Flow Cytometer to analyze various cell-based in-process and release flow assays. Furthermore, I also use qPCR and ddPCR to characterize some of the critical materials and reagents. Through my experience, I found it difficult to learn all these instruments when I first started working, as they are complex instruments. Therefore, my advice for someone new in the industry is to ask as many questions as you can when you are getting trained on how to use these instruments and only start working independently once you feel comfortable enough to run the instruments on your own. Incorrect use of the instruments can lead to the breakdown of the instruments, and they are expensive to repair.
- Method Development and Optimization
A methods development analyst must possess the ability to create and optimize analytical methods and developing methods is what I do at work. Besides a scientific background, you are required to have expertise in ICH (International Council for Harmonization) (International Council for Harmonization) (International Council for Harmonization) guidelines regarding parameters for method development. You must have a strong GLP (Good Laboratory Practices) and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) at work. Meticulous attention to detail is critical in this role to ensure the accuracy and precision of analytical methods. While developing methods can be a challenging task, it is a critical step in getting your drug product evaluated and released for use. I would advise anyone new in the industry to first look at online resources regarding method development and familiarize yourselves with ICH and FDA guidelines.
Soft skills you use on daily basis in your current job
While most people focus on technical skills, soft skills are sometimes overlooked at the workplace. You should not forget that soft skills complement technical expertise, making you more effective and enhance your ability to work and perform. Below are some of the soft skills I constantly use at my workplace.
- Communication Skills
As an analytical development associate, I interact with different cross-functional teams and collaborate with them on some of the projects. Therefore, it is particularly important that I share my ideas with the team members to avoid any misinterpretation of data. You should be able to clearly present your data and information to your team members so that they understand the scope of the work. I have learnt that you overcome your fear of communication by communicating more.
- Attention to Details
It is one of the most important skills when you are working in a laboratory setting. Attention to detail is a foundational skill for a scientist or research associate that underpins the credibility and reliability of the work. While performing laboratory experiments, I make sure to record even the tiniest details in my notebook so that the integrity of my experiment is preserved, and I can go back and see if there were any errors that I made and what steps of my experiments worked or did not work.
- Critical Thinking and Troubleshooting
When you are working in the lab and developing analytical methods, you are likely to come across many challenges and unexpected results in your experiments. Therefore, it is important to review scientific literature critically and evaluate any gaps or inconsistencies in your work. I have faced this issue multiple times in my workplace and I always tend to review the previous work on the method and talk to my manager to how I can better troubleshoot any inconsistencies in the assays and implement necessary changes to make sure that the method works.
Your personal path
I graduated right at the peak of the covid pandemic, so it was a very tense moment for me. On one hand I had to worry about not getting sick, and on the other hand I had to worry about securing a job 60 days (about 2 months) past my graduation date to keep my visa status active. Since everything was on lockdown, it was hard for me to even get an interview date. At last, seeing no other way around, I decided to apply to a beverage company as a quality control technician and was accepted for the night shift. I worked there for about six months and after the covid pandemic was slowly starting to settle down, I applied to a biotech company and was accepted for the role of an analytical development validation analyst. The interview process was short when I applied for this role, and most of the questions were related to the working mechanism of analytical instruments.
It was not until I applied to my present work that I got to experience a lengthy interview process. After working at the previous biotech for about a year, I was ready for a change and when I applied to my new job, there were a series of interviews that I had to take part in. First, it was screening from the recruiter and then another screening from the manager. After that, I had to give a panel interview, where people from various teams asked me about my technical expertise. There was another round of interviews from HR, and finally, after all, I got an offer.
I realize how hard it can be to land a job after your graduation and my advice to you would be to reach out to anyone you know in the industry and ask them for their advice and recommendations. Use the career center in your university to prepare yourselves for interviews and take part in mock interviews. I would also suggest using online resources such as LinkedIn to know more about the company you are interested in and better prepare yourselves.
What would you tell your younger you regarding building your current career?
I would tell my younger self not to be afraid of change and do not hesitate to ask questions. I would also tell myself to always have a backup plan in case something does not work out despite all of your efforts. I wish someone had told me earlier that making connections to more people in the industry would be beneficial to my overall growth and that is one thing that I wished I had done when I first started working.
Final tips and insights
Biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industry exposes you to a wide range of sophisticated technologies to solve major health challenges in society. It is important that you keep up to date with the new instruments being used in the industry. Although working in biotech can be really challenging at times, it will remind you how critical your work is in solving real life issues that is hurting so many people around the world.
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