Rick Davies thoughts on his first 2 months at Sygnature

Rick Davies joined Sygnature Protein Science and Structural Biology (formerly Peak Proteins) as the new Director in January this year. He joins the company as a Protein Biochemist with 35 years previous experience with AstraZeneca, based in Cambridge UK.

Here he reflects on his first couple of months with the company.

“I’ve been in the role now for just over 2 months and I’m really enjoying the new job. We have a fantastically talented group of people here and we are working at the cutting edge of protein science and on projects which are at the forefront of drug discovery. It is interesting to compare and contrast life working for a contract research organisation with my experience working in Big Pharma. There are many similarities and many differences. I am certainly learning a lot!

First similarities:

The science we are doing on a day-to-day basis is the same. We are working at solving problems to drive projects forward in both settings. The equipment, techniques and expertise is also very similar. The scientists working in both settings are driven by curiosity, have a high-achieving mindset and are passionate about science. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the people in my department and also the rest of Sygnature.

Differences:

The CRO environment certainly provides exposure to the full spectrum of current activities in the drug discovery world. We are working with Big Pharma, medium-sized Biotech companies and small start-ups. This gives one a broader perspective of the current scientific climate than I was exposed to in AZ. The work here at Sygnature is also ever-changing and fast-paced, necessitating an agile and innovative approach to working. This approach is also required in a big Pharma setting, but the goals are changing less often. Working to understand customers goals and helping them to achieve success involves adaptability as there are different approaches for how projects need to deliver.

One of the things I have found fascinating is to learn about the many and varied goals of our clients and to start to work with them to achieve them using our first-class capabilities. Having an approach which focuses on solving problems rather than selling capabilities is definitely the most effective way to support our clients. At Sygnature we have an integrated mindset and approach to supporting our clients and have a full suite of capabilities to go all the way from target identification to candidate nomination.