Professional Experience

Subject matter expert providing in-depth technical – and scientific support in internal escalations at the expert level, on automated diagnostic instrumentation and assays produced and sold by BD Life Sciences with a focus on infectious disease diagnosis and industrial microbiology for the region Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Duties included (but not limited to):

Subject matter expert providing in-depth technical – and scientific advice, provide application and engineering troubleshooting on automated diagnostic instrumentation and assays produced and sold by BD Life Sciences to internal and external customers with a focus on infectious disease diagnosis and industrial microbiology. Customer-facing for scientific and technical inquiries within Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Duties included (but not limited to):

• Answering inquiries for scientific and application assistance by telephone, chat and email. Identify customer problems, and troubleshoots instrument or assay issues. Reached a customer satisfaction score of ≥9.0 (FY21 & FY22).
• Understanding and explaining sensitivity, clinical and analytical performance.
• Promote and ensure a culture of privacy and security related to PHI according to HIPAA and GDPR stipulations.
• Coordinate with Quality, Marketing, Sales, Engineering, and Field personnel to assure timely follow-up and resolution of all technical inquiries and product issues.
• Contribute to team goals and objectives through active participation.
• Participating in global escalation projects.
• Obtained various peer-to-peer recognition awards, participant of manager nominated BD Benelux Talent Program (CHARGE).
• Superb communication skills to communicate effectively with customers, peers and management.
• Trainer in Mastery courses for Molecular Diagnostics.
• Creator of Master overview files for Molecular – and Microbiological Diagnostics solutions.
• Certified Field Service Engineer & Application specialist on:
  • Antigen testing: Veritor Plus & self-test.
  • TNA extraction & PCR: BD Max, Viper LT & BD COR.
  • Microorganism growth detection: Full Bactec Portfolio.
  • Identification & Antimicrobial Susceptibility: Full Phoenix Portfolio.

Part of the site leadership team of the First XL Corona testing facility in the Netherlands, leading the country by example. Setting up together with the department of defense and taking over with civilians without any prior (bio-)medical experience.

Duties included (but not limited to):

• Successfully aided with setting up new clinical sites (streets) and labs for a timely launch with a max. capacity of approx.. 2,500 patients per day
• Team lead of approx. 10 direct reports on a daily basis.
• Ensuring quality of the entire testing process by auditing all clinical – and laboratory staff (~30 fte) and workspaces, tracking and improving quality KPI’s, and offering new training when necessary to ensure quality performance
• Standard operating procedure (SOP) development & improvement for local and nationwide implementation following 5S/Lean process optimization.
• Translated protocols to laymen terms for the staff in the testing facility.
• Communication with internal – and external customers about deadlines, priorities and other agreements.

Lifelines (launched in 2006) is a worldwide unique population based cohort study and biobank, including over 167,000 participants in the north of the Netherlands to be followed over 30 years. Lifelines provides data, and samples for policy makers and for researchers worldwide, It is a unique source for epidemiological studies in a broad range of multifactorial diseases. Lifelines collects data on e.g. health, lifestyle. physical environment, and eating habits, but also biomaterials like blood, urine, feces, hair, and DNA. By this, Lifelines encourages worldwide research to detect factors relevant for the causes and process of chronical diseases, all relevant for future healthy ageing.

Duties included (but not limited to):

• Creating a 4-year collaborative infrastructure between 3 organizations that complies with regulatory guidelines for a budget of € 20 million.
• Reorganizing old – and setting up new operational departments to successfully start on time in October 2019 seeing the first of 155.000 cohort participants.
• Communicating with internal and external customers about deadlines, priorities and other agreements.
• Analyzing developments, anticipating risks and providing advice to develop and implement required policy to deal with the issues at hand.

Duties included (but not limited to):

• Coordinating the projects and the technicians performing them.
• Coordinating a data migration and ICT renewal of the laboratory information managements system.
• Communicating with internal and external customers about deadlines, priorities and other agreements.
• Preparing a data migration onto a new digital platform.
• Working with AGILE project management and JIRA project tracing software.
• Testing and validating sample procesing.

Left this position after being promoted to program manager.

Topic: Local Signaling in Diabetic Comorbidities (NIH grant R01-DK105542-02).

The lab of John Scott focuses on defining the intracellular communication networks that promote specificity in signal transduction events via A-kinase–anchoring proteins (AKAPs), which facilitate rapid signal transduction by optimally positioning protein kinases and phosphatases in the vicinity of their activating signals and close to their substrates.

In this research position, I focused on posttranslational protein modifications, particularly (de-)ubiquitination, coordinated by A-kinase anchoring proteins. I studied the effects of introducing point mutations in a de-ubiquitinating enzyme on its activity and how this enzyme is regulated by localization and the cAMP pathway. This project was in the context of myocardial infarction and is translated to humans by fluorescent immunohistochemistry on patient material.

I have taken the opportunities available to network here with both the academic (ITHS, UWPA etc.) and the business (SEBA, Life Science Washington etc.) side of life sciences. I have used this experiece to better mentor people on the career opportunities available and to further connections to my potential academic/industrial collaborators.

Duties included (but not limited to):

• Independent researcher working in compartmentalization of the ubiquitin system.
• Established new connections to set up novel research lines.
• Developed and maintained mentor relationships with several graduate students in the department.
• Directly supervised a graduate student.
• Reviewing papers for journals.

Topic: A-Kinase anchoring proteins as novel drug targets in the development and progression of airway obstruction in COPD (Dutch Lung foundation grant 3.2.11.015).

During this time I have (co-)authored 7 scientific papers around 50 meeting abstracts, presented my work at around 20 different meetings including giving 8 oral presentation, including one as an invited speaker. I have supervised various students including short term projects (2 Bsc students) and long term projects (4 BAS and 4 MSc students) and several colloquia and theses. I have aided in the finalization of chapters for four PhD theses next to my own (Anouk Oldenburger, Pablo Muñoz-Llancao, Bing Han, Sepp Jansen) and had the honor of being a paranymph (ceremonial assistant) for two Dutch PhD defenses (Hana Černecká, Pablo Muñoz-Llancao). I fulfilled several duties, including but not limited to the following:

• Individually managing research projects in addition to assisting that of colleagues.
• Generating the hypotheses and preliminary data for various successful grant proposals.
• Supervising students from various backgrounds.
• Giving occasional lectures and tutoring medical students.
• Working with pharmaceutical companies in contract research projects.
• Reviewing papers for journals.

Located reviewers for book proposals and possible editors for newly founded journals.

Coordinating the courses Caput Molecular Pharmacology (MSc), Medical Pharmaceutical Research (BSc) and the bachelor thesis and – projects (BSc).

Topic: Intracellular compartmentalization of cyclic AMP signaling in pulmonary and neuronal diseases. (Dutch Lung foundation grant 3.2.09.034).

During this time I have (co-)authored 1 scientific paper around 7 meeting abstracts, presented my work at 4 different meetings. I have supervised various students including short term projects (8 Bsc students) and long term projects (1 BAS student) and several theses. I fulfilled several duties, including but not limited to the following:

• Managed my own research projects on anchor signaling in neuronal and pulmonary systems.
• Obtaining the data for my future position as a PhD student.
• Supervised students from various backgrounds.

Work placement during my Master’s studies at the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie, Berlin, Germany in collaboration with the department of Molecular Pharmacology, University of Groningen. It was here that I started to create the hypotheses that would lead to the creation of my PhD studies. I fulfilled several duties, including but not limited to the following:

• Designing and optimizing my own research project in anchored signaling.
• Mastering several techniques in the field of protein-protein interaction.
• Giving a PhD master class on alternative presentation software.

Vice chair and Fundraiser/Treasurer

iGEM Groningen, University of Groningen

February 2009 – February 2010 (1 year, 1 month) Groningen, Netherlands

Topic: Heavy metal scavengers with a vertical gas drive.

Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, University of Groningen

February 2009 – August 2009 (7 months) Groningen, Netherlands

Topic: Engineering CD27 and CD70 to enhance solubility.

Creating soluble forms of TNF family members by truncations or fusing to large soluble proteins, to facilitate determination of their crystal structure.

(Assistant) Chemical Analyst

Eurofins Analytico

July 2008 – September 2008 (3 months) Heerenveen, Netherlands

Determining moisture and nitrate contents in food samples. My first experience working with a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and tightly run GLP regulations.

Trainee Process Engineer

IMEnz Bioengineering BV

February 2008 – July 2008 (6 months) Groningen, Netherlands

Topic: HIPERLOOP: Giving an impulse to bio-production of pharmaceuticals.

Trainee Microsurgeon

Department of Medical Biology & Pathology, University Medical Center Groningen

September 2007 – February 2008 (6 months) Groningen, Netherlands

Topic: Effect of ACE B/L genotype on tissue ACE activity in the rat.

Performing research, as a trainee at the department of Pathology and Medical Biology, into the genetic background to sensitivity to kidney damage and ACE therapy in animal models. During this time I have co-authored 1 scientific paper 2 meeting abstracts. My duties involved the following:

• Practical organization of the animal experiments.
• Measure body weight and blood pressure with a tail cuff method.
• Collecting and processing of samples and data.
• Learning ischemia/reperfusion of the kidney surgery in the mouse.

Trainee Microbiological Technician

Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Groningen

February 2006 – July 2006 (6 months) Groningen, Netherlands

Topic: Analysis of complex microbial samples: FISH and DGGE Techniques.

Performing research, as a trainee, on microbial populations of voice prostheses in relation to life span of the prosthesis. As a side track also looked into microbial populations inside the International Space Station (ISS) in relation to (changed) pathogenic and technophilic threats. In addition, followed internal course to work in the microbiological diagnostics division.