I guess you can say that I've paid my dues. My first job out of grad school was as a molecular biology technician at a start up and about as far away from scientific management as you could possibly be. Primary duties during my first year on the job included processing mini preps and running differential display gels. We used the genetic information that we acquired with the differential display studies to create probes with which we printed on our own custom microarrays. Our goal was to patent the genes that controlled the induction and repression of certain proteins in different cancer types that were indicated through chemotherapeutic challenge, print them on a custom microarray per cancer type and sell them to the cancer researching world. However, for a multitude of reasons, this goal never saw fruition. These were the days before Affymetrix and the availability of ready made kits for microarray experimentation. We had to improvise and create our own processes and even modified equipment that would suite our needs. Over the years, as I gained more experience in various research laboratories, my supervisors came to depend on me for laboratory project management as well as directing other technicians in the daily performance of the lab. I started assuming leadership roles in the institutions where I worked and was soon able to incorporate the classroom experience I achieved during my business graduate studies to my expanding role in scientific management. During my scientific career, I have been both the sole technician in a lab and I have been the manager of over 10 technicians with an yearly operational budget of over 3 million dollars. I would like to share the experiences and lessons that I have learned along the way with you.
I can help you.
Let me show you how.
During my years of experience as a scientific manager, I have acquired a dynamic set of tools and expertise that I have parlayed into a successful career. My experiences in using these tools is wide ranging and invaluable in a field that experiences a lot of change. Some of my more current experiences which highlight my managerial skill set are exemplified below,
For the past three years I have been responsible for assisting new faculty in organizing and setting up their labs at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU), including the researching and procuring of necessary equipment, identifying and enlisting preferred vendors and interviewing potential employee candidates. To be successful at this task, I collaborate with campus facilities and architectural committees to modify laboratory and office space to meet the demands of incoming faculty. I also work with scientific vendors in creating start up packages for new faculty, which results in getting the lowest available prices for machinery and equipment. In order to get these new labs staffed so that work can start, I screen potential candidates for technician jobs and offer advice as to who would be the best fit for the duties and experience required.
Aside from assisting new faculty getting up and running at OHSU, I have also been my department’s main point of contact at OHSU for faculty and research staff regarding issues related to departmental office and scientific equipment and the management of all laboratory space. I took on this role not because I applied for the position, but because it seemed to be the natural thing for me to do and plus, I was doing it anyways. I have always been seen as someone who knows how to get things done. However, I got a lot of help on my way to becoming the manager of one of the largest labs at the university. My down to earth philosophy and willingness to talk and befriend people meant that I got to know a lot of individuals at the university. As it turned out, many of the people I had befriended in the time leading up to me assuming a leadership role, each had their own knowledge set and skills that ended up helping me in may job as manager. As the laboratory and facilities manager in my department, I make sure that the departments equipment and supplies are readily available and optimally placed in areas where they will get the most use. I am also responsible for making sure that researchers in our department have the adequate space and infrastructure they need for their research. The success I have experienced at this particular job is primarily due to help that I received from those that I have made friends with at the university.
For the past 5 years I have assisted new department faculty with writing and submitting their Institutional Animal Use and Care Committee(IACUC) and Institutional Biosafety Committee(IBC) protocols. Getting an approved IACUC protocol can take a lot of time and effort. This is time and effort that can be better utilized on conducting research. Furthermore, research using animals models cannot commence unless there is an active protocol in place. I have helped create a single IACUC and IBC protocol that covers many of the animal procedures and administered agents that cancer researchers may want to use in their own research. When I know that there will be new faculty in our department, I offer these protocols for them to use as a template. As the procedures within my documents have already been approved by our IACUC and IBC committees, with some minor modifications from the new researcher, these protocols will get approval in a timely manner, so that the researcher can concentrate on doing research.
I have consolidated all of the CDCB department’s equipment service contracts into a simple maintenance schedule and negotiated with service vendors in obtaining discounted service agreement prices. When you work in a large or complex lab, you can have many different types of scientific machinery. Much of this machinery is high tech or is specialized to a point that routine maintenance by laboratory staff is not possible. Also, much of this equipment is purchased at different times throughout the year. This can lead to a complicated schedule of start and end dates of preventative maintenance contracts, invasive site visits and extra costs for the lab. In my experience in scientific management, I have always worked with manufacturers to bundle maintenance service contracts in order to decrease costs and minimize the impacts that site visits have on the lab.
I currently direct the closing out of laboratory and office space in the our department, facilitating the transport of department equipment and supervising laboratory and office structuring in new facilities. For a variety of reasons, good and bad, researchers leave an institution. When they leave, oftentimes, there can be a lot of biological samples, scientific equipment and supplies that need to be sent back to the original site where the samples or equipment originated from, or parsed out to other labs that may need the leftover equipment and supplies. I make sure that before the researcher leaves our institution, a clear and detailed database is created that depicts the biological samples that may be left behind. I then collaborate with the originating institution in getting these samples back to where they came from or disposing them as per environmental health guidelines. Leftover equipment and supplies are also cataloged and dispersed to researchers that are in need of them. Often times there has been some damage to the laboratory or office areas that the researcher has vacated. I work with facilities and campus engineers on repairing damaged areas and modifying abandoned laboratory and office space to get ready for new faculty.
I currently serve on various leadership and scientific operations committees whose recommendations directly influence decisions regarding scientific operations at the Knight Cancer Research Building, the newest research building on the campus of OHSU. Early in the KCRB design phase, OHSU leadership asked some of us scientists and managers for their input and expertise on how a building should be designed that would foster communication and collaboration, not only across labs, but across entire divisions and even across emphasis of research. There has been a concerted effort to get away from the more traditional laboratory and office design in academic institutions over the past number of years. Whereas laboratory and office spaces in the past involved well defined borders and walls, many feel that this design lead to a constrictive atmosphere, where individual researchers and labs were essentially cut off, not only from other research groups within the university, but even from researchers from within their own department. Our committee was formed in order to change all that. We were tasked with designing a space that had direct functionality as a wet lab with shared dry lab and office space. The KCRB opened in the fall of 2018. If you visit the building, you will see the results of our efforts.
I am an active member of the Institutional Animal Care and Use committee at the Oregon Health and Sciences University. Other than reviewing animal use protocol applications, I am also tasked with evaluating the animal use program at the university and inspecting facilities on a semiannual basis, examining concerns. My position with committee, means that I work primarily within and across the IACUC and Institutional and Biosafety Committee(IBC). I serve as a liaison and subject matter expert between the IACUC, IBC, and other integrity programs as needed, to assure a smooth and coordinated review process for protocols involving animal subjects, recombinant DNA, and other hazardous agents. I work with the leadership of both committees to continually monitor and provide input to enhance the coordinated review process.