A Day in the Life of a Metabolism Chemistry Scientist
(Contract Research Organisation)
9.00am to 9.15am
I am currently supervising a university work placement student, so we have a quick discussion about the workload for today and to discuss the priority of specific tasks.
9.15am to 10.30am
A goat metabolism study I have been working on for ca 1 year is now finished and so all of the data requires to be compiled in a report and sent to the client.
Brief synopsis of goat metabolism study:
As part of a compound safety study, a goat was administered with a radiolabelled compound and on sacrifice, the goat tissues were collected and homogenised. The tissues were then extracted with solvents in order for the compound and the associated metabolites to be transferred from the tissues into the solvent (known as the “extract”). The extract for each tissue was analysed by thin layer chromatography (TLC), in order to identify the metabolites formed.
I spend part of the morning compiling TLC images of the profiled extracts for the report and send these to the client for review.
10.30am to 10.45am
A quick cup of coffee and a chat with colleagues
10.45am to 12.30pm
As I work for a contract research company, we have many studies underway at any given time (it can get a bit hectic at times!). I spend the remainder of the morning in the lab analysing some extracts from a soil photolysis study by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Brief synopsis of soil photolysis study:
As pesticides are sprayed on the surface of soil, it is important to determine how the chemical breaks down in the presence of sunlight. We test this by applying the compound to the surface of soil and placing the soil under a lamp for a period of time. The soil is then extracted and the extracts analysed to understand how the chemical has degraded.
12.30pm to 1.15pm
Lunch
1.15pm to 1.30pm
Meeting with my supervisor to discuss an agenda for a teleconference with a client this afternoon.
1.30pm to 15.00pm
Teleconference: We discuss the TLC images for the goat metabolism report and the client suggests minor formatting changes. We also discuss an experiment where the results were not what we were expecting and discuss how best to proceed. As the client is our customer, it is important we take an active role in finding solutions to any problems we face.
15.00pm to 15.15pm
I prepare a document detailing the experimental work I am going to conduct, in order to hopefully resolve the problem discussed in the teleconference. This then gets reviewed by my supervisor who is responsible for the study. Following this, I send the document to the client to make sure he is happy with the proposed plan.
15.15pm to 16.30pm
I review the HPLC data from this morning’s analysis and prepare a document summarising my findings. I then send this to the client for review.
16.30pm to 17.00pm
I amend the goat metabolism TLC images to include the clients proposed changes and send this to the client for a final review before including the images in the study report.
17.00pm
Home time!
Career Progression
Graduated with aMSci (1st class) in Chemistry. I was first employed by the company as a work placement student (2008-2009), before regaining employment following my graduation. I am currently training as a study director which will allow me to manage my own studies.