The Science Explorer interviews Justin Dranschak from Molecular Devices to discuss how we are supporting COVID-19 scientists in their analysis of immunology, candidate vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.
Here is a snippet of their conversation. Watch the video for the complete interview.
Tiffany:
What are the current concerns and needs that scientists have during this pandemic? And, how are companies like Molecular Devices managing to fulfill those needs?
Justin:
Yeah, that's a great question. I think the initial concern for the scientific community in general, is to get a complete understanding of how this virus and disease works; how it presents itself through various symptoms and interactions from patient to patient. And so, there's really a high demand for accelerated testing and medicines and being able to identify how to get those to market as soon as possible, and to fast track discoveries based off of current and existing research or through new avenues of research that might have presented through the broader scientific community globally.
That's where Molecular devices and companies like us are stepping in to support the research community through providing different technologies that help them accelerate those solutions and really optimize their workflows to take something from a lead, target or molecule all the way through that discovery and analytical testing process to a finished product that results in a therapeutic, a vaccine or a solution.
Tiffany:
Can you tell us a little bit more about how the products fit into this COVID-19 research environment?
Justin:
Our customers are focused on a wide range of different applications across biological research. And given the current closed environment, a lot of our customers have pivoted into vaccine-based research, focusing on a recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies, and also repurposing existing drugs that have already been approved or in clinical trials, and helping to develop those into potential vaccines.
Molecular Devices’ platforms fit across all aspects of the development process. We have platforms that are upstream in the build and design phase of an experiment, down through the actual testing characterization of lead molecules and targets, all the way through to where they would actually take that into scale.
Tune into Science Explorer’s technology and innovation special to learn more about Molecular Devices comprehensive platforms and how our instruments fit into a wide range of different workflows including immunogen and antigen discovery.