02 What will our careers look like?
Many of us students like myself are uncertain of what will be before us after graduation. The field of biotechnology and synthetic biology are relatively young and there are no set career paths for us, fortunately. To respond to our doubts, we have three recently graduated scientist on very different career paths: Nea Laine, a Bioinformatics and Robotics Specialist; Nelli Heiskanen, a Development Pharmacist and an ABOA alumni; and Malin Eriksson a PhD student and also an ABOA alumni.
In this episode we get to know about their educational and career histories as well as their current job positions and how synthetic biology is implemented in their workplaces. Also, as iGEM emphasises, how and why are their current positions meaningful both personally and to us others?
Although they all have astonishing careers as recent alumni, we are certain their careers will not end here. So, what are the dream jobs, they want to find themselves in one day? Let’s find out!
Nea Laine
I studied biotechnology at the University of Turku and graduated as the Master of Science in Engineering in Biotechnology. I work as Bioinformatics and Robotics Specialist at Genomill, a pioneering precision diagnostics company and this is my first position in the field. My days at work are quite varied. In bioinformatics, I mainly do data processing and analysis. I also program the liquid handling robot, design laboratory experiments, and do laboratory work with and also sometimes without the robot. In addition, some days include different meetings. At Genomill we certainly utilize synthetic biology, but unfortunately I can't tell more about this yet.
My job is meaningful to the surrounding world because more advanced technology enables more efficient and cheaper diagnostics. As a result, people can get the treatment they need earlier and, in the best case, better diagnostics can save lives. This is also why my job is meaningful to myself. I get to genuinely make a difference and help people by being part of the development of our technology.
I don't have any specific dream job yet, but maybe it would be nice to end up in some leading position and maybe lead different projects, for example, so that the work remains versatile. But let's see what I eventually want to do when I have a bit more work experience and knowledge of all the possibilities!
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Nelli Heiskanen
I did my bachelor's degree in the University of Eastern Finland majoring in biomedicine and minoring in business and chemistry. After the degree I wanted to steer my education towards pharmaceutical industry and applied to the University of Turku master's program in Biomedical Sciences; Drug Discovery and Development where I finished my studies and continued business studies. Nowadays I work at Orion Corporation as a Development Pharmacist in Commercial Product Development and Lifecycle Management (CPD&LCM).
As a development pharmacist I'm a pharmaceutical expert in industrialization of new tablet products. My responsibilities include change management in late-stage development projects as well as projects aimed at solving problems related to tablet products. In practice, our project team plans the next test batch campaign to be manufactured in production in detail, follows the production on site and lastly analyzes the data and gathers a report. Based on learnings, we enhance the next campaign keeping in mind the goal of marketing authorization. Days include mostly project meetings, documentation, organization, and control of changes. Synthetic biology as such is not applied in my current position, but however, since synthetic biology applies engineering principles, I could say I can benefit from knowledge gained through synthetic biology. In general, increase of efficacy and productivity are closely related to my current work as well as synthetic biology.
As working in the pharmaceutical industry, I can be part of a social responsibility where medicines are made available for people who need them. The unique solutions and science behind the medicines require diligent work and I'm happy to contribute to helping people live longer and healthier lives.
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Before this postion, my early job experiences are in short working as a cashier, guard/receptionist as well as hobby related jobs. During summer holidays of first to third year university years, I worked at Finnish institute for health and welfare starting from laboratory making solution preparations and equipment maintenance moving to assistant tasks in projects and lastly to project coordinator. In practice, I communicated with stakeholders, arranged meetings, did purchasing, and document registration. During the fourth summer break, I started my master’s thesis laboratory experiences and was part of the ABOA team. Since I'm a recent graduate, my time in the industry has been limited. However, I wish to stay in the pharmaceutical industry to gain knowledge in different areas.
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Malin Eriksson
I first completed a BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Turku before moving to Denmark and obtaining a MSc in Biotechnology from the University of Copenhagen. I recently started as a PhD student in the Alkaloid Biosynthesis and Transport group in the Section for Plant Biochemistry at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. My project aims at elucidating the long-distance transport of toxic alkaloids into lupin seeds with the prospect of realizing the potential of lupin as a sustainable protein source.
As a PhD student, I get to spend my days conducting fascinating research. A typical day for me can include activities such as experimental work in the laboratory or greenhouse, attending meetings, reading publications, planning and writing. On top of this I will also be doing some teaching from time to time.
I consider synthetic biology to include anything that modifies the native function or metabolism of a biological system. Looking at synthetic biology from this broad perspective I would argue that synthetic biology is applied in my job. This is because I use heterologous systems in my work, such as Xenopus laevis oocytes for studying transporter proteins, and I transport engineer lupin by knocking out genes of interest, thus blocking native transport pathways of alkaloids. Additionally, the work on transporters and pathway elucidation done in the group is building a foundation, which in the future could enable the efficient production of commercially valuable alkaloids by means of synthetic biology.
Meaningfulness to me stems from the feeling of working on something that I believe has a positive impact on the world and that I find intriguing and useful. With my PhD project this relates to the ever-growing need to feed our population in a sustainable manner and to reduce Europe’s reliance on protein imports. From another point of view, my project is also meaningful as it contributes to our understanding of the transport of specialized metabolites in plants. This is a research area with great impact for many fields, yet it has garnered little attention to date. Lastly, the opportunity to promote science and innovation through my job is something that I find meaningful in my daily life.
During my BSc studies I was involved in multiple projects in the Synthetic Biology of Cyanobacteria group at the University of Turku over the span of a couple of years on and off in the group. I have also had various summer jobs outside of research and even though heading the iGEM ABOA team twice did not provide a salary, it often felt like work. I hope my career path will keep opening doors to new exciting opportunities within research in the life sciences.
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Thank you Nea, Nelli, and Malin for elaborating what is possible in the synbio field. As said, there are no set career paths, yet now we are even more eager to take our first steps into the world of grown-up synbio experts!
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Sincerely,
Sara Makkonen