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ahiddenpath · 4 years

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hey hidden. I hope this question isn't weird but your job is very cool to me, so I was wondering: what exactly did you need for education to get into it, and what's it like for you?

Are- Are you- Are you asking me to nerd out?

THE NERDING WILL COMMENCE BELOW THE CUT!

EDIT: Trigger warning for discussion of cancer treatments/research.

SO I am a molecular biologist. I am currently researching immunotherapies for a biotech company.

One thing I should emphasize is that this stuff takes an enormous team working together for years. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m, like... Personally producing cancer medicines. I’m part of a team of about 400 people, working together with 20 ish years of data produced by our company and the companies we partner with. And my boss tells me what I’m going to work on! I design the experiment, run the experiment, and consider the data from there, but I’m not the “mastermind” for anything. It’s usually the upper level career scientists with pHDs doing that.

Another disclaimer is that, sadly, we as humans aren’t at the “defeat cancer forever” stage. Like, it’s not... near. The best defense continues to be frequent screening so it can be caught and treated early (which is bad news in the states, where people can’t afford the screening because we don’t have universal health care, or they can afford it but don’t go because they have three part time jobs, none of which give benefits- But I digress).

Oh! And one more thing I want to tell all future science dorks, something I was super lucky to learn at age 19: follow the money.

When I was 19, I was culturing and chemically processing algae, then assessing the data. My company at the time wanted to create biodiesel from algae, and my whole world was rocked when they told me: WE ALREADY CAN MAKE VIABLE FUEL FROM ALGAE. The problem is that it costs about $4.50 per gallon, so it can’t compete with normal diesel (at the time, this was like 12 years ago).

So what they wanted was algae that had the correct chemical profile for use in biodiesel, that could also be grown at tropical temperatures. Why? Because the algae was to be grown in sugar cane processing centers, where it’s tropical, and most of the production costs came from cooling the incubators and instruments that would grow the algae. So they needed algae that could make diesel, but also grow in hot weather, which apparently isn’t common.

ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MONEY! It’s often not even about “can we do it,” but “can we do it at x cost, considering conditions hundreds of miles away.” Crazy!

Ah, but you asked how to get into biotech! It’s not that hard, thankfully! I have a BS in biology. I made sure to get good grades and all of that, and if you’re serious about biotech, you want to take classes in things like immunology, virology, any science class that can return to human health and biotech. I will say that, while I’ve always naturally excelled at biology, I had to take more chemistry than bio! Plus, you need math and physics...

But here’s my best advice for biotech-interested young people:

-If you’re looking at universities while in high school, PLEASE check out what AP classes will get you out of undergrad labs. The WORST PART about being a science kid is the labs. For example, every bio and chem class has a lab. The class itself usually consists of three 50 minute lectures (150 min/week), and you get 3 credits. The lab is 170 min per week, and you only get 1 credit. If you don’t place out of some classes with labs attached with AP credit, YOUR ASS WILL BE SITTING IN LABS FOR AT LEAST 340 MINUTES A WEEK! AND YOU ONLY GET 2 CREDITS FOR THAT!!!! It’s utter bullshit.

So, if you’re in high school and really serious about pursuing a science degree, check out which AP scores get you out of labs at your favorite universities, and really commit to getting 5s in those.

I was able to place out of 3 labs this way, and it played an enormous role in maintaining my sanity.

-Everyone in biotech knows EVERYONE in biotech. It’s absolutely astounding. But it’s a small field, centered around a few hot spots, and lots of these people have been at it for 40+ years.

Here are some of the hot spots in America (you might have to live in one of these areas to find biotech jobs, so be sure you’re down for that).

Anyway, like I said, I worked as an undergrad at a biotech. I was so fortunate, because they paid me, I was already doing actual-factual research, and I got to know people. And when I graduated, people went, “Oh you worked for Bob? Let me give him a call.” And then they did. And then Bob said, “Oh yeah, she’s a hard worker, hire her.”

SO you need to make connections ASAP, and strive to show people your hard-working, curious, problem-solving, good-attitude-having self. Sadly, there’s an element of luck there, for sure. But you need to be ready to try to work in professional labs in college, which means juggling your difficult courses and school labs with work. Hooray!

...Did I say this wasn’t hard? I’m full of shit, aren’t I. Looking back, all I can see is how lucky I was, and how I “only” needed a 4 year degree, but... It really takes a lot to get here.

As for what it’s like...

I love it, it’s great, but like any job, it... Well, it’s rough.

Here’s what I think you need to thrive in biotech, assuming you’re not put off by the stuff I’ve already covered:

-Organization, time management, and focus. Honestly, being a lab researcher isn’t about being smart, it’s about juggling a lot of things simultaneously. Lots of folks describe the job as “hurry up and wait,” because you rush to mix the experimental ingredients together so they can incubate for two hours before you do the next step. And while that’s incubating, you do x, which has a few 15 minute incubations. In those 15 minutes, you generate graphs with yesterday’s data, make records for you lab notebook, order items for next week’s experiment, print labels, or... Any number of things. There are ALWAYS tons of balls in the air, so organization and time management are 90% of the job.

And you need to focus, because most of the time it looks like you’re adding a single droplet of water to other droplets of water. Almost everything you work with is a clear liquid, so you can’t go spacing out and forgetting what you’ve already added to the mix.

A typical day is to arrive at work, sit down for a while to plan out how to best use the incubation times to do other things, head into the lab, hope for incubation periods for toilet/water/food breaks, and scramble to get data processing in there somewhere. Deadlines are usually tight, because it’s always a race to patent a medicine before one of the other 5,000 companies trying to do it can. We all work from the shared published scientific knowledge, so there’s no... Developing something in secret.

I’d say my job is challenging, but rewarding, especially as we come closer to generating medicines for what we call “patients with unmet needs.” Remember how I said “follow the money?” Sadly, often, um... Okay I’m gonna do a really quick and loose explanation. People have different versions of the same genes, right? And sometimes, there are “cancer” genes- this is a really sloppy explanation, sorry. So medicines get created for the most common mutated cancer gene first. So say 70% of cancer patients have this mutated gene, 20% have that mutated gene, and 10% have a third mutated gene. Guess who gets medicine made for them first?

If you guessed the largest group, you’re right! The trouble is that big companies will then move on to the largest group for another cancer/gene group, leaving people with more rare genetic issues without treatment options beyond chemo, which many elderly or immunocompromised patients simply can’t tolerate.

My company specifically aims to help these people with no help in sight. On the one hand, follow the money- we are doing it because we will have a market, and we can’t compete with big companies yet. On the other, we are helping people who have no options. I’m so grateful to use my gifts (organization, planning, focus, problem solving, and natural curiosity) to play a small, small role in hopefully helping people. It means something to me.

On the other hand, it can be a grind, no lie. And any high-pressure job will have colleagues who are also under pressure, and might lash out or try to throw other people under the bus when problems arise. A certain level of emotional maturity and strength is required, and frankly, I needed therapy to get there.

Also, if you’re a female-presenting human, some people will give you shit in biotech. Luckily, I’ve only ever had one coworker be blatantly sexist and ask me (multiple times) if I was sure I belonged here. Unfortunately, you’re more likely to see more discrete sexism, like folks asking you to organize parties for pregnant or engaged coworkers because “you seem like you’d be good at it,” ie “you’re female and I am throwing social tasks at you so I can focus on my science, which you also have to do.” I’ve had a lot of coworkers try so hard to corner me into doing emotional work for them. But... Honestly, most of this is just existing as a woman, and isn’t specific to biotech.

So yeah! You’re gonna have to work hard, but if you have an interest in science, great organization skills, and want to play a little role in helping people who are suffering in a way that doesn’t involve direct social interaction with the hurting people... It’s great!

Sorry for the absolute wall of text, I hope this helps! I’m always happy to talk about this, so please ask away if you’d like. Thanks for the ask!

#Anonymous #ask hidden #career stuff #biotech

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