“I like that we try to help costumers”

”Omicscouts is a small, private company that markets various experiments together with data analytics. The company has 35–40 employees, and its customers are mostly pharmaceutical companies, but can also be university groups. We measure protein quantities in different cells using mass spectrometry, and we investigate how substances affect these proteins.

My team analyses the data generated in the lab. For example, clients want to know what happens at the protein level in cells treated with a particular chemical compound. I really like the fact that we try to help customers, and in a sense I’m still in contact with research – albeit on a small scale.

Through a combination of chance and an Erasmus exchange, I ended up at the University of Gothenburg. After six months I returned to Germany, but I soon knew very clearly that I wanted to come back to Sweden. After a master’s degree at Chalmers University of Technology, I did my third-cycle studies at the University of Gothenburg. I’m extremely satisfied with the education I’ve received. I ended up in Germany mostly for personal reasons, as my boyfriend and my family live here.

With each step in my career, I’ve become more practically oriented. I started off with theoretical physics, then moved on to programming before adding biology. My bachelor’s degree was in quantum physics, and my master’s degree included not only physics but also computational biology, programming and simulations. And my doctoral thesis in applied mathematics was on cellular aging.

My broad background really helps in my job. I realised that it would be easier to get a job after completing a doctoral degree, and I was pretty clear that I wasn’t going to stay in academia. I was looking for something with more practical applications and a different pace.”

As told to: Carina Eliasson
Photo: Linnea Österberg