After being awarded a first class honours degree in Biochemistry, Eliot completed a Ph.D. at the University of Manchester. Subsequently he spent over 6 years within the Biotechnology industry, initially with the protein expression group at British Biotech. He then moved to Prolifix where he led the Antifungal Research team prior to his appointment as Head of High Throughput Screening. 

Eliot has spent over 12 years as a consultant the R&D software industry and joined IDBS in 2005 where he has worked extensively with IDBS’ Bioprocess Development and Manufacturing clients. He is currently Head of Global Solutions Consulting and also holds an MBA from Warwick Business School.

1. What were you explaining to the audience within your webinar? 

My aim was to explain how bioprocess operations can be optimized to improve productivity and increase capacity. We’re all being asked to do more with either the same, or less, resources – I discussed several ways to achieve just that. I described how the time skilled scientists spend on labor-intensive data administration can be greatly reduced, giving them more time to innovate and expedite the development of new products. I also highlighted some of the other advantages of process optimization, such as how quality can be improved by engineering common errors out of processes, and how organizations can break down departmental silos to gain greater product and process insight.

2. What’s your opinion on our webinar platform, was it easy to use? 

I found the platform very intuitive and easy to use. The support available and the ability to go through a dry-run before the live event were also much appreciated. Overall, I found the platform to be user friendly, well designed and to work well for live set-ups such as Q&A.

3. How did you get into the industry and what do you most enjoy about your role?

After spending six years as a scientist in the biotech industry, I fancied a move out of the lab into the commercial world. I started thinking about what made the most difference to my daily work and what I could be passionate about when speaking to other scientists and I realized it was software. So I joined a company providing bioinformatics software for scientific users as a consultant. During my time there my interest in enterprise solutions grew and I moved into the data management industry, where I’ve been for 10 years, the majority of which has been with IDBS.

The things I enjoy most about IDBS are working with a great group of very talented people to help solve a wide range of problems for our customers, and the incredible variety that brings to my role.

4.  What has been the best moment in your career?

It’s a tough question as there have been a lot – both as a scientist and as a consultant. Whether it’s been a research breakthrough or helping a customer make a transformational change to their business, the thing they all have in common is that they’ve all been the result of hard work and addressing a variety of challenges, to eventually get a memorable result.

5.  What motivates you?

Being able to make a difference and helping others fulfil their potential.

You can watch Eliot’s webinar ‘Is your biologics development lifecycle being held up by ineffective data management?’ on demand here.