Qian He is a former analytical chemist/process engineer at ABPDU. She currently works in quality assurance for Revance.
Tell us about yourself and how you became interested in science.
I came to the U.S. in 2009 with a background in chemical engineering. After getting a master’s degree in chemistry from UC San Francisco, I worked in a small startup for a short time before working at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. I didn’t know much about biotech until I took a tour of the Joint BioEnergy Institute. It amazed me. When I saw there was an opening at the ABPDU, it made me think that I could get my start in the biotech field. I joined the ABPDU in 2013. It was an eye opening experience for someone new to the field.
What was your experience working at ABPDU?
I started at ABPDU as a research associate on the analytical team. Though I worked on the analytical team, I was able to learn about every aspect of bioprocessing — including fermentation, deconstruction, downstream processing. That was really helpful for my future career. I was able to work on many different types of projects involving various technologies. ABPDU definitely gave me room to grow and try new things.
I found it very fulfilling to be involved in projects from start to finish. It was really fun to see how these projects progressed and to see companies grow. It’s a good experience to have, especially if you are interested in entrepreneurship.
What did you do after your time at ABPDU?
After ABPDU, I joined Amyris as a quality control manager. It was different from my work on the analytical team at ABPDU, as it involved validation and following different guidelines, but there were definitely transferable skills from my time at ABPDU. At ABPDU, I was working with clients and helping them achieve their goals. At Amyris, my role switched and I became the client. I was working with CMOs and traveling to different sites to monitor their processes. So it was interesting to see the other side. My experience from ABPDU taught me the importance of communication between CMO and client. Effortless and thorough communication between both teams helps the process go smoothly.
I currently work at Revance, a biopharma company developing aesthetics products, where I work in quality assurance. This involves making sure our processes are compliant with certain regulations and don’t deviate from our standard operating procedures. I’m definitely hoping that I can step up more in the quality assurance field, which I’m still pretty new to. I hope this can be my long term career in the pharmaceutical industry.