Q&A | Visikol https://visikol.com Advanced Drug Discovery and Bioimaging Services Thu, 09 Mar 2023 16:19:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 Scientist Spotlight-Brian Ayee, PhD https://visikol.com/blog/2023/03/09/scientist-spotlight-brian-ayee-phd/ Thu, 09 Mar 2023 16:19:04 +0000 https://visikol.com/?p=19155

Name : Brian Ayee

Institutions: Rutgers University

Q&A

·How long have you been at Visikol?
I have been at Visikol since the beginning of January 2023.

·What do you do at Visikol?
I am a scientist but more specifically, I am a study director for the histology department here at Visikol. As a study director, it is my role to facilitate communications with clients and our research technicians to ultimately provide answers to questions revolving around tissue diseases and tissue imaging.

·What’s your favorite project that you’ve worked on here at Visikol?
As a recent hire, I have yet to delve into many projects on my own, but with my background in microscopy, any project that requires fluorescence or brightfield microscopy imaging always gets me excited.

·Most challenging part of working in the science field?
The most challenging part of working in the science field is being okay with failure. Most things, especially in the biological sciences, fail more times than they do succeed. Understanding that you need to go through the failures to truly understand how things work is part of being a scientist, and it is not always easy.

·Most rewarding part about working in the science field?
The most rewarding part about working in the science field is the opportunity to talk to people with great minds and great ideas on a daily basis. It provides the mental exercise for helping solve problems and keeping me sharp. Every day that I can help someone else, is a day I can be proud of.

·How does your department help Visikol accelerate the drug discovery process?
The Histology department helps Visikol accelerate the drug  discovery process by providing the hands on processing, imaging and labeling of tissue samples. With our multiplex staining protocol, we are able provide more data with less sample. So, if someone has a rare tumor that we can only get a small portion of, we can use our multiplexing technique to identify several different targets in succession.

·What is a fun fact about yourself?
I am what some may call a “sneakerhead”. I have over 80 pairs at the moment, and always appreciate a great pair of kicks with a cool background story.

The post Scientist Spotlight-Brian Ayee, PhD first appeared on Visikol.]]> Scientist Spotlight-Dr. Amir Wahba https://visikol.com/blog/2023/02/09/scientist-spotlight-dr-amir-wahba/ Thu, 09 Feb 2023 14:16:44 +0000 https://visikol.com/?p=19090

Name : Amir Wahba

Institutions: Mansoura University, Egypt (BS, MSc), The University of Mississippi, MS (PhD).

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.

The post Scientist Spotlight-Dr. Amir Wahba first appeared on Visikol.]]>