Meet Our Expert is our newest interview series where you will get to meet the talented people behind Cergentis' success on a personal level. In these interviews, we discuss about the common challenges our customers face in genetic research and how we strive to support them to the best of our abilities. Besides, we also touch upon life, job responsibilities, career developments, corporate culture, vision and mission, etc. In this pilot interview, dr. Irina Sergeeva (our Scientific Account Manager, responsible for the analysis of all projects related to Genetically Engineered (Animal) Models for both our academic as well as commercial customers) shares her personal story and gives an intimate account of her journey at Cergentis. |
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? At university, I specialized in molecular biology. I like learning about all the biological mechanisms, how a cell works, etc. Everything is so complex and interesting, so there is a lot to learn! I invited Wouter to be part of my PhD committee. The day before my defence, I remember being nervous and scared of the questions that he would ask! [laughing] It was very important to me to make a good impression in front of him. I ended up staying another two years in the same lab right after my PhD. Eventually, after applying for a job at Cergentis, I got invited for an interview by Max van Min (co-founder of Cergentis). It was the first and the only interview with a commercial company I had and it turned out to be a good match. I remember my first days in the lab here [at Cergentis]. Although the lab equipment were exactly the same as in any university lab, the feeling was somehow different, as if I’m standing one step higher. I still find it fascinating that one technology can be used for so many different applications, for example transgenic animal models, cell line development or cell and gene therapy. We can solve quite a lot of different questions with TLA. From academic questions to the ones that big pharma companies have. It’s never boring here! Every day is different and interesting. And of course, the colleagues also play a big part. And to see that we are rapidly expanding, also gives a good impression that the company is doing well. Which also means that I am doing a good job. |
Can you share with us an interesting project that you worked on? So, we’ve been helping a customer with their cell line development for several years now and would receive, every now and then, samples from them. Each time, it was exactly the same cell line, which they modified in a specific way. The thing is, because of confidentiality and legal matters, we don’t always know what the end product is. In this case, we read in the newspaper that this cell line was actually used for the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. I wasn’t aware that I was working on the development of vaccines! So that was like: “Wow! That is so rewarding!” [laughing]. Learning about the type of impact of our work, during the project or after, gives a good sense of motivation and excitement. I would say there are 2 type of requests from our customers. Sometimes our customers want to develop a new cell line or a mouse line and they want to immediately see if their modifications/transgene are as expected. Other times, our customers already work with a model (animal models, cell cultures, etc.) and they see that something is wrong. They see unexpected phenotype or the system they are employing is not working. In which case, they then turn to our TLA analysis, which helps to check what is happening. In both cases, we can show if everything is correct and help them confirm or reject their hypothesis. An example of what can be challenging is for instance: transgenes integrating in an unexpected genomic location, or a genomic rearrangements occur during integration. Also, deletions of the endogenous genes or an important part of the transgene might happen. Sometimes, we see some unexpected presence of other transgenes too, or even unexpected integration of E.coli sequences! On top of that, many people use our TLA technology to help them design a genotyping assay because they need to genotype the mice and be able to distinguish between the homozygous and heterozygous animals. TLA reveals that in some cases such genotyping assay is not possible due to the nature of transgene integration. For me, those events are important. I think it’s needed for both the current team members and new colleagues that recently joined to become a part of the Cergentis family.
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