Since the founding of the company over 12 years ago, Admescope has grown from a small startup to a company with over 50 employees, who all contribute to our mission to provide top-quality services and achieve high customer satisfaction. Over the years, the service portfolio has expanded to cover the whole non-clinical ADME-Tox, which has made necessary the formation of specialized teams within Admescope focusing on different kinds of studies. One of the cornerstones of Admescope’s success has been its expertise in drug metabolism, and that is why we want to introduce to you some of the people working in the in vitro metabolism team.
Elisa, Study Director
I have been interested in drug metabolism ever since I first got familiar with the subject during my pharmacy studies at the University of Helsinki from where I got my PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry in 2019. Before joining Admescope at the end of May 2022, I worked in academia for several years. As a postdoctoral researcher I was involved in several research projects related to drug metabolism focusing on, e.g., miniaturized enzyme reactors and environmental impact of medicines.
At Admescope, I work as a study director in the metabolism team and I’m responsible for metabolic stability studies and some of the enzyme phenotyping studies. My daily work includes project planning and scheduling, instructing lab work, reviewing the results, and reporting them to our customers.
I’m happy that at Admescope I can utilize my knowledge of this topic to support our customers’ projects. However, there’s always more to learn about drug metabolism and every now and then you face new things that you’re not yet familiar with, especially as a relatively new Study Director. Luckily, I have very experienced colleagues to discuss with when needed, and I really enjoy working with them.
Natalia, Chemist
I got to know Admescope during my organic chemistry studies at the University of Oulu as I got a summer job as a laboratory technician here in 2018. When it was time to think about my master’s degree, I got a chance to do it in collaboration with Admescope and worked as part of the R&D team responsible for setting up the method for released N-glycan profiling. After graduating in 2019, I started as a scientist in the metabolism team.
In the metabolism team, I am responsible for the development of analytical methods with UPLC/high-resolution-MS for our metabolic stability assays, metabolite identification and profiling, phenotyping of metabolizing enzymes and many more. After the samples have been analyzed, I process the data and prepare a draft report for the Study Director to finalize and communicate to the customer.
In my work, I like the most the importance of what we do. As a CRO, Admescope helps many companies to develop drugs that can help many people worldwide with their health issues. Knowing that some of the compounds we analyze may at some point save someone’s life is very rewarding. In addition, I like that my days are very different from each other, and the work doesn’t become too routinized.
Mervi, Laboratory Technician
I am a laboratory technician by training, and I will soon graduate as a biomedical laboratory scientist. Before joining Admescope, I worked as a laboratory technician in environmental laboratories and health care centers, and before that, in sanitation and horse grooming.
I started at Admescope in July 2022. At first, I was in the bioanalytical team, but I soon transferred to the metabolism team where I perform incubations and other laboratory work for our metabolism studies. At first, I used much of my time getting familiar with all the SOPs and instructions. Also, learning to plan my daily tasks took a lot of my time and may still the most challenging part at work. I also need to use many equations and do a lot more calculations than in my previous jobs.
I like my job because working at Admescope is very diverse and challenging in a good way. The days are never alike and there is always something new to learn. It is a perfect combination of teamwork and independent effort, and I like the fact that I can plan and manage my daily routines.
