Peak Proteins’ Welcomes Joanne Hartley
Peak Proteins welcomes Joanne Hartley as Operations Manager. Jo has over twenty years’ pharmaceutical industry experience, possessing a breadth of skills encompassing stakeholder engagement, client relationship management, operational laboratory support, computational biology, and experimental proteomics.
It All Started with AstraZeneca
After graduating with a degree in Applied and Environmental Biology from the University of York, Jo joined AstraZeneca working in the same laboratories as many of the current Peak Proteins team. Jo was a proteomic scientist investigating the global influence of proteins in a disease. She later become a computational biologist, delivering bioinformatics solutions to support drug discovery project decision making, during early target identification through to late-stage development. Her main focus was in using text-mining and pathway mapping, to generate interactive biological network views allowing a better understanding of the drug target.
The Move into Education
Jo left AstraZeneca following their move to Cambridge and joined The Fallibroome Academy, Macclesfield as a Science Technician. Although involved in all the science subjects, Jo particularly concentrated on biology, developing A Level practicals and demonstrating to students.
Jo commented, “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Fallibroome. I missed the challenges of life science research though and decided to return”.
Medicines Discovery Catapult
Jo joined the Medicines Discovery Catapult in the Samples and Data team, supporting SMEs and internal scientists locate and access human clinical samples and health data. She managed biosample sourcing enquiries across a network of commercial tissue suppliers and academic biobanks and represented industry at national biobanking and health data forums.
Joining Peak Proteins
“When I heard Peak Proteins was looking for an Operations Manager, I jumped at the chance of joining the team. I know many of them from my old AZ days, of course and look forward to applying my process and problem-solving skills to support the team, seeing results, and knowing I’m making a tangible, practical difference to the running of the business”, added Jo.
Mark Abbott, CEO, commented “We are so pleased that Jo was able to join the team as Operations Manager. I have known Jo for some years since her AZ days. As we have grown, the operational side of the laboratory has become more time consuming. A dedicated person who can ensure the business operations continue to run smoothly is just what we need. Jo fits the bill perfectly”.
Life Outside Work.
Jo has rediscovered her childhood hobby of dancing, attending ballet and tap classes at the same dance school as her daughter. “We haven’t performed together but have been in the same show so appeared on stage together during the finale! Dancing on stage is terrifying but fun and rewarding too”. Jo and her family also enjoy walking in The Lakes and the Peak District and growing fruit and vegetables and cooking.
