Q&A

·How long have you been at Visikol?
15 months.

·What do you do at Visikol?
Leading the bioanalytical analysis/chemistry department.

·What’s your favorite project that you’ve worked on here at Visikol?
The development of the in vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) assay.

·Most challenging part of working in the science field?
Generating solid and reproducible data with high confidence through a rigorous experimental plan.

·Most rewarding part about working in the science field?
Respect and appreciation when discovering or developing something useful for the community. In addition to self-satisfaction!

·How does your department help Visikol accelerate the drug discovery process?
Bioanalytical analysis plays a central role in drug discovery by providing quantitative measurements of drugs and their metabolites in the biological system, proteins, and other biopolymers. At Visikol, we are utilizing mass spectrometry to develop novel in vitro assays that will help the drug discovery community fail their drug candidates earlier on the pipeline, such as the BBB permeability assay. Furthermore, the quantitative monitoring of proteins (proteomics) and their small molecule products (metabolomics), in addition to the dynamic changes to the genome (epigenetics), provides a real-time snapshot of the biological system that guides the development of better drug candidates.

·What is a fun fact about yourself?
I enjoy SCUBA diving in the Red Sea! I also enjoy playing tennis and table tennis.