The Daily Life of a Biotech Employee
What is an everyday experience for Biotech employees in San Diego?
By Stephen Cadua
By Stephen Cadua
In 1978, a young assistant worked for a professor named Howard Birndorf at the University of California San Diego. Driving a group of Venture Capitalists to the airport, this young assistant convinced them to invest in monoclonal antibodies research. The significance of this research is to help with disease diagnosis. He indicated how he, and the professor, wanted to start commercializing the monoclonal antibodies for future diagnosis. When the investors said yes, San Diego’s multi-million dollar Biotech industry was born.
According to the Darryn Bennett’s article, “How San Diego Biotech started and where its going”, San Diego is the 3rd largest biotech city in the world, under Bay Area and Boston. Having La Jolla, Torrey Pines and Scripps Ranch designated for San Diego’s Biotech industries, it has impacted many San Diegans lives in many different ways. When we think about who works in these industries, we think of well educated people who have spent many years in colleges and maybe even medical schools who persevered to get to where they were. Looking around, I couldn’t find this “New Leaf Biofuel” that I was headed to, asking myself “Where is it?”. Then I saw this white building. From my point of view, it looked like an old rusty airplane hangar with a fence around it. I read a big sign on the building saying New Leaf Biofuel with a white background, a leaf next to the words. As the tour started, I was very curious what they were making in the tanks. The tanks were tall, but not as tall as the building itself. With the sun beating down on us, a woman named Danielle introduced herself. She had short blond hair, average height and she had a black shirt with the words “New Leaf Biofuel” on the chest. Giving us the tour, she explained to us that those tanks contained used cooking oil from restaurants and they were using to make what is known as Biodiesel. As she lead us into the dark stuffy building, she tells us that her and her co-workers have “crappy shoes” because the fuel they make is not rubber friendly. The last place she took us in was a small office with no windows, almost the size of my bedroom. There we found a scientist who was studying the Biodiesel they were creating, as well as a big screen mounted on the wall with numbers in columns and rows. All around we saw beakers with a strange black substance inside them. Along side were binders. Before she had the chance to tell us what this room was, I had already come to a conclusion that it was a Lab. Ending the tour, Danielle explained how Biodiesel is better for the environment. She mentioned an experiment New Leaf Biofuel did on trucks. They put regular diesel fuel in one truck and biodiesel in another, then they put tissue in the exhaust of both trucks. When they started them both, the tissue in the truck with regular diesel was pitch black and the tissue on the other truck with biodiesel barely had any black on it. Also, it is great for the owner’s wallet, because it gives the car better mpg. I conducted some interviews over email with people who work in Bioindustries. My questions focus more on what a typical day is like for some who works in the bioindustries. What made them want to take on this profession? Is it the reason why they moved to San Diego, if not native? I also asked them to tell me about their profession and what they do, along with how they go to that point.
John M Newsam, the Chief Executive Officer of Tioga, shared with me about his profession and how a typical day at work is for him. A typical day at work depends on how the week is going. The week I interviewed him consisted of him getting to his office, checking his emails, then spend most of his day in his desk. A typical Chief Executive Officer, or CEO, spend their time in face to face meetings. Tioga is a small company which makes his days at work stuck behind a desk. Not a day goes by that he hasn't thought about Biology or Science in general. He stated that he’s favorite perk in his job is the paycheck. According to him, “One important thing about a job is that it pays the bills.” His quote brings up the word “Workaholic” to mind because to me his quote seems a bit negative. Sciencedaily defines it as, “The term generally implies that the person enjoys their work; it can also imply that they simply feel compelled to do it”. I was told before that the negative definition of the term Workaholic was someone who works more than required for the additional cash that it comes with or maybe the distance that it provides when one doesn’t want to be with his/her family or friends. I conducted another interview but this time with Shawnnah Castillo, a Software Technical Project Manager for Invetech. She shared what she does for the company. As a Software Technical Project Manager, she oversees software engineering and verification personal and project in the medical device industry. A normal day for Shawnnah is Interfacing with clients, project proposals, planning, monitoring project progress, assigning tasks, reviewing documentation. Before she got here she was a software engineer which led into management. Now she has been managing at Invetech for 11 years. She describes her work culture as Collaborative and Informal. She also shared a quality that someone who is interested in her line of work needs, she stated that one would need Variety and Patience. “Our clients and needs change daily, we need to be able to adapt to their needs in order to stay competitive. Patience for times when we don’t have project work and during times when the workload is larger than typical”. The Flexibility is her favorite part of her profession, “It gives you the ability to come and leave as I need to in order to meet personal life needs.” Now an Oncologist, researcher, scientist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Dr. Ivory Royston M.D—the young assistant from earlier—is recognized for his efforts to develop treatments for disease targets. He is also working to fund Biotech companies with promising science, technology or medicine. |