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I am a
PROTEIN ENGINEER
Harbani Kaur Malik-Chaudhry, PhD
Presented by AMGEN foundation
Antibodies are produced by your immune system when your body spots something foreign.As a Protein Engineer, I use genetic engineering and structure-based engineering to modify protein sequences. This way we can develop antibodies for cancer treatment.
MY WORK SETTING
Indoor vs. Outdoor
I spend the vast majority of my time working inside a lab, in meetings, or at my desk.
People vs. Alone
I spend a lot of time both collaborating with other scientists and working alone.
Creative vs. Defined
We are always testing new techniques and exploring ideas, but many of the lab steps are clearly defined.
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I work on the development of next-generation antibody-based therapeutics (like medicine or treatments for disease). When your immune system detects foreign substances, it naturally produces antibodies to help eliminate them, but it isn’t always enough. I engineer proteins to have favorable and developable properties to develop a stable and functional antibody for different diseases.
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I engineer the protein sequences in these antibodies using various genetic and structure-based tools. We then test these panels of antibodies for their overall stability and function, so we can develop new treatments.
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Most of us know someone who has been impacted by cancer or other diseases and there are so many different types that require different treatments. Since our bodies are already good at fighting disease through antibodies, engineering solutions through natural processes may help us find cures that are less invasive and devastating than chemotherapy or radiation.
MY WORK NEEDSEssential Skills:
CREATIVITY
Thinking outside the box and designing experiments to test your hypothesis is critical for developing the right tools. We are constantly looking for new potential connections or approaches which requires creativity.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Things will not always go your way in the lab. It’s important to be patient and remain focused on strategies to work through challenges.
TEAM SPIRIT
We work together in small teams, and also as a large organization. We often rely on each other’s expertise, and it’s important to lift each other up to stay motivated.
ANALYTICAL
The immune system is very complex. To make sense of all of our data, we have to be detail-oriented and able to think carefully and critically.
DAYS IN THE LIFE
Days in the Life
Explore what three days at my job might look like!
How I Work
Check out what my place of work looks like on an average day.
This is what my workspace looks like!
Laptop. While I spend a lot of time in the lab, I also do a lot of my work on the computer, like running statistics and summarizing our findings.
Pictures of loved ones & the Gurdwara. I love keeping my family and place of worship close, even at work.
Handwritten Notes. And perhaps a doodle here or there.
Sculpture of the first molecule I worked on. It’s a great reminder of what we can accomplish.
Did you know...Protein engineering has made it possible to ask new questions.
In recent times, protein engineering has seen remarkable progress, especially in biotechnology and medicine. Thanks to advanced tools like deep learning and CRISPR, scientists can now design and modify proteins more precisely. Techniques such as directed evolution have become more sophisticated, enabling the creation of proteins with improved properties. Synthetic biology has also played a role, allowing the design of entirely new protein structures. These developments open up exciting possibilities in drug development and industrial applications, showcasing a promising era of innovation in manipulating and designing biological molecules.
Rewarding
These are the parts of my job I find particularly rewarding.
Learning new techniques and staying caught up with the fast pace of research and innovation.
Hearing stories of patients who have been impacted by the medicines that you may have contributed to.
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Challenging
These are the parts of my job I find particularly challenging.
Putting a tremendous amount of time and energy into experiments without knowing what the outcome will be.
Staying patient as the timelines from discovery to drug development can be many years.
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These are some of the people I work with:
Drug Discovery Team
I work with scientific specialists and engineers to stay on track with the drug development process.
Manufacturing Team
This team helps to make sure potential treatments can be safely available in large quantities so that anyone that needs it can access it.
Functional Team
There are countless moving parts, and there are team members dedicated to making sure each piece of the puzzle works.
WHAT’S NEXT?
What’s next for my field of work?One of the most exciting things about working in STEM is how fast things change. Things that aren't possible today could be possible tomorrow.
Artificial Intelligence.
In the near future, Artificial Intelligence (AI) could have a big impact on how we work with proteins in scientific research. Think of proteins as tiny machines in our bodies that do important jobs. To figure out which proteins work best for certain tasks, scientists study their building blocks, which are like the blueprints called DNA. AI can help scientists predict which proteins will do the job well. This prediction power will make research faster and save resources like time and money.
Essentially, AI could be a powerful tool that helps us understand proteins better, leading to exciting discoveries in medicine and agriculture. So, in simple terms, AI could make protein research and engineering much more efficient, and could lead to some incredible breakthroughs!
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