Biggest Challenges Faced By An Associate Scientist At EMD Serono
Matthew's biggest challenge as an Associate Scientist at EMD Serono is overcoming "a lot of failure," as medicinal chemistry often involves working with novel compounds where established reactions may not work as expected. This requires resilience and a willingness to learn from setbacks, a process Matthew views as crucial for growth in this field.
Overcoming Challenges, Problem-Solving, Resilience, Failure in Science, Medicinal Chemistry
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
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Traits
Matthew Bleich
Associate Scientist
EMD Serono
Hamilton College 2018
UCLA Anderson Full-Time MBA
Humanities, Chemistry, Philosophy
Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical
Research and Development (R&D)
Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. Steep learning curve transitioning from academic chemistry to medicinal chemistry in industry.
2. High failure rate of reactions; necessity of resilience and problem-solving skills.
3. The excitement and growth opportunities derived from overcoming challenges and unknowns in research and development.
Transcript
What's your biggest challenge in your current role?
Being an associate scientist and going straight to industry after your bachelor's degree presents a steep learning curve. This comes from the differences between learning in general, organic, and physical chemistry by the book, versus medicinal chemistry.
In medicinal chemistry, things don't always play by the rules. You might be running the same reactions you learned in organic chemistry, but you're working with compounds that have never been synthesized before. So, a reaction that works for many substrates might not work for yours.
There is a lot of failure in science, and that's okay. Approximately 90% of reactions probably won't end up working. The big challenge for an associate scientist or anyone in medicinal chemistry is overcoming that failure.
You might try ten reactions and only one works. You have to analyze why and figure out how to get the others to work. There is a lot of failure and a lot of the unknown.
However, that is part of the excitement of the job. If you can handle that kind of failure, it allows you to grow in ways that no other position can.
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