Last April, I joined Testa Center at Cytiva’s headquarters in Uppsala to collaborate in the development of a process to separate recombinant proteins in microbial cell lysates. As a computational biologist, stepping into a lab takes a small leap of faith, but it is one that naturally comes with valuable rewards.
Finding my way around experimental setups, learning new techniques, and getting familiar with bioprocessing broadened my competencies and imparted insights on orienting research towards industrial production.
Whilst those fulfilled my expectations, they only account for half of the outcome. The other half was attained just by being in the environment.
Testa Center serves as a hub for innovation in biomanufacturing by providing resources to researchers in industry, start-ups, or academia to develop, test, and scale various stages of a bioprocessing workflow. This implies a dynamic environment that requires the ability to accommodate diverse users with diverse needs.
Furthermore, Testa Center is a collaboration with Cytiva, a global provider of research solutions, which presented not only a chance to get familiar with its products but also side views of the training and maintenance services complementing the product.
As a result, I gained a whole new perspective on research - one not solely focused on the research goals, but on what it takes to conduct research, shifting from a user’s to a provider’s point of view.
For eligible researchers, I can only recommend pursuing these programs.
Finally, I must thank DLN and Testa Center for their initiative and collaboration, as well as everyone at Testa Center, Cytiva, and Uppsala, whom I had the pleasure of meeting along the way. I had a great time. Tack så mycket.