5 Questions with Brandan Jason, Liquid Handling Specialist, Thermo Fisher Scientific
“5 Questions With…” is a recurring BioBuzz series where we reach out to interesting people in the BioHealth Capital Region and Greater Philadelphia to share a little about themselves, their work, and maybe something completely unrelated. This week we welcome Brandan Jason, Liquid Handling Specialist, Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Brandan Jason is a current resident of Gaithersburg, MD and has lived in Montgomery County for the past six years. He grew up in upstate New York and attended St. John Fisher College. Brandan loves to network and make new connections. He is passionate about helping others and giving back to the community. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, golfing, and visiting craft breweries.
1) Please introduce yourself to our audience with a look back at your education, training, and career.
I hold a Bachelor of Science and began my professional career working in sales and marketing as an affiliate of Penn State University Athletics. Following that, I relocated to Maryland and began to shift my career towards the life sciences sector, realizing that I wanted to be a part of an industry that impacts so many people. As a technical recruiter, I learned about the vast opportunities that the BioHealth Capital Region offers in the science, healthcare, and biotech space. From there, I went on to work for Thermo Fisher Scientific.
I got my start with Thermo Fisher in early 2018. Initially, I began as the Global Inside Sales Representative for Fisher Clinical Services, BioServices. After some time, I transitioned into an outside sales role as an Account Manager with Thermo Fisher’s Laboratory Products, covering parts of Maryland and Virginia. In this position, I was responsible for the lab consumables and essentials portfolio, made up of liquid handling and benchtop instruments, pipettes and tips, tubes, storage plates, and other labware. During this time, I developed a passion for liquid handling and exploring solutions for transfer processes within the lab.
After three years at Thermo Fisher, I decided to expand my experience in the liquid handling space by joining Opentrons Labworks, a growing lab automation company that specializes in liquid handling robots and automated workflows. As an Automation Sales Executive for the Mid-Atlantic region, I helped scientists take a more automated approach to their work, while growing the company’s footprint. After a short stint, I determined that I wanted to be back at Thermo Fisher, if the opportunity presented itself. I now serve as a regional Liquid Handling Specialist within the Laboratory Products business of Thermo Fisher.
2) Talk about your current role at Thermo Fisher Scientific, and why you left and came back?
I love my current role with Thermo Fisher. As a Liquid Handling Specialist, I support multiple field reps as a subject matter expert for our liquid handling portfolio of products. This includes meeting with customers within the region to help them determine suitable solutions for their workflows, along with educating them on the features and benefits of our products. Additionally, I conduct seminars related to topics on ergonomics and pipetting best practices. One of my favorite parts of my job is providing in-person demonstrations with customers so that they can get a true feel and vision for our products.
Although it was the most difficult decision of my career thus far, I decided to leave Thermo Fisher in April 2021 to grow my knowledge in the lab automation space. I enjoyed the excitement of working with robotics and learned a great deal during my time with Opentrons, but I knew that my heart was still back where my career began in the science industry. Timing was on my side; a year later, I had the opportunity to come back to Thermo Fisher and rejoin the Laboratory Products business in March 2022.
I am grateful to be a part of this amazing company again. Thermo Fisher, and specifically the Laboratory Products division, has always felt like home to me. Much of that credit is due to the incredible people that I have the privilege of working with each day. I am a firm believer that a company is only as good as its people. Not only do I have amazing colleagues, but as a company, we have an outstanding leader and visionary in our Chairman, President and CEO, Marc Casper. I love knowing that we are making an impact as a team by enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. I can confidently say that Thermo Fisher is where I plan to continue to grow my career for many years to come.
3) What are some of the biggest challenges in your line of work, and how is Thermo Fisher addressing them?
Some of the biggest challenges in our line of work are supply chain issues and meeting demand. Of course, everyone in this industry faced that issue over the past couple of years. The pandemic exposed weaknesses and gaps within the supply chain, as scientists and healthcare providers struggled to find the critical components required to perform experiments. Cargo ships were lined up for miles to enter ports, air carriers were grounded, and tractor trailers were driverless.
In the wake of all this uncertainty, Thermo Fisher made a motion to step into action with extensive capacity expansion and capital investment commitments. Where others stepped back and cut down to limit costs, we planned to increase our capabilities to get more product out the door to our customers. Today, Thermo Fisher is well positioned to continue serving our customers so that they can carry on with their critical work.
4) What do you see as the future of liquid handling and dispensing?
I foresee a future with a more automated approach to liquid handling. Simple and time-consuming tasks will be completed by machines rather than by hand so that researchers can spend more of their valuable time analyzing data and making discoveries. Although automation cannot fully replace the abilities of the human mind, it can be used in conjunction with researchers. When implemented appropriately, automation can have a positive influence on productivity and precision. We are currently seeing the transition to a more automated world where people and robots can coexist to generate greater outcomes. It will be interesting and exciting to see what the future holds over the coming years.
5) If you had a workday to donate by volunteering to support your favorite cause, what would be the cause and what would you do with the time?
I would choose to volunteer my time with Roc Solid Foundation. Roc Solid Foundation is a non-profit organization that builds hope for kids fighting cancer through the power of play, providing custom backyard playsets for children and their families who are challenged by cancer. To date, the organization has completed thousands of playsets around the country, thanks to the support of volunteers and sponsors.
I had the privilege of being part of a build and the experience was incredible. There is nothing more uplifting than seeing a smile on the face of a child who is battling such a horrible disease. In the U.S., nearly 16,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer each year. The mission of Roc Solid is to provide hope for families who are going through this difficult journey and give pediatric cancer patients an opportunity to have fun and be a kid.
If you are interested in getting involved, you can learn more at https://rocsolidfoundation.org/.
Would you or your colleague like to be featured for our next “5 Questions With…”? Reach out at [email protected]
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