"My scientific curiosity triggered my varied educational choices and brought me to Antleron," says Anaïs Schaschkow, a French pharmacologist and doctor in life and health sciences. "As Antleron operates on the crossroads of therapeutical and technological innovations, it is the perfect spot for me to learn and contribute. I like to interact and collaborate as part of Antleron's dynamic, multidisciplinary team to get new therapies and processes off the ground."
From France to Belgium
I like both the theoretical and practical aspects of sciences," Anaïs Schaschkow explains. On one hand, I passed the traditional path of bachelor (life sciences), master (drug sciences) and PhD (life and health sciences) at the university of Strasbourg, France. On the other hand, I gained a lot of practical experience during a two-year university program including biochemistry, microbiology and immunology (IUT of Nancy-Brabois, France)."
Anaïs did her PhD in the European Center for the Study of Diabetes (CeeD) in Strasbourg. "I focused on developing and validating biomimetic materials and a novel technique for pancreatic islet transplantation. An interesting aspect for me was that the assignment also covered project management, manipulation planning and execution, teamwork organization, trainee formation and supervision."
"I am already in Belgium for three years. I have worked as a postdoctoral researcher in UCL in Brussels (xenogeneic pancreatic islet transplantation) and in ULB as lab manager and postdoc (role of STAT3 in developing diabetes and liver diseases). And my Belgian journey continues since I started working for Antleron in Leuven earlier this year."
Versatility in skills, fields and projects
As Antleron is at the forefront of innovations in life sciences, this company caught my attention," says Anaïs. "I like working in a multidisciplinary team with various specialists who push innovations forward for organizations in different fields and sectors. I collaborate with my colleagues in multiple projects while always focusing on useful results. I learn a lot every day."
"Currently, I am executing laboratory experiments related to Antleron’s BioScout® tool, which entails custom cell-culture based biofunctionality screenings that Antleron is commercializing," explains Anaïs. Such screenings cover applications from biomaterials to medical devices.
"Another Antleron tool I recently started using is Cell by Design® (CbD), a software product that Antleron developed together with QbD. The CbD software enables organizations to adopt a quality-focused ATMP development process through risk-based process assessments." The insights guide science and data-driven decisions to meet all pre-defined critical quality attributes of the ATMP under development.
"Quite interesting is the work I do as part of the Persomed project team. Here the aim is to develop a sustainable personalized colorectal cancer vaccine. I work on various cell-related aspects and it is nice to learn how the biology side intersects with the work of other team members, such as Evan who focuses on soft sensing and artificial intelligence to enable personalized manufacturing."
Feeling at home in the Antleron team
"Everyone at Antleron is friendly, accessible, helpful and open minded. Working alongside with them gives me a feeling of empowerment. My opinion counts in discussions and I am free to organize my work the way that suits me best. There is a good balance between theoretical work and tasks in the laboratory. Quite attractive is that I am involved in other aspects including lab organization, project management and reporting as well as financial and legal project aspects. I am also looking forward to interact more extensively with external parties such as customers, partners, and research organizations."
"After living for several years in the Brussels area, I am becoming 'une vraie Bruxelloise' ;-) Besides my work for Antleron, I like music, dancing and crosstraining. Another hobby of mine is crafting computer illustrations, which comes in handy when writing papers and reports. And every now and then, my partner, my cat and I visit family and friends in France."