Sharee Adams-Hall – Pfizer, Inc.

Scientist | Analytical R&D | BioTherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences | Pfizer, Inc.

Please tell us about your background: where you grew up, studied, and why you chose the field you did.

I grew up in an automotive town in Southeast Michigan. Intending to pursue a career in medical research, I studied at the University of Michigan and attained a B.S. in biological sciences with a chemistry focus.

What does your current position entail? How does it tie into your previous experience, and where is it going?

My current position is an analytical scientist studying biotherapeutics, such as protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccines, viral vector gene therapies, monoclonal antibodies and mRNA-encapsulating lipid nanoparticles. As a pharmaceutical scientist, I support bioprocess and formulations through in-process support, method development, validation and transfer. I am currently focusing on implementing best-in-class science to enable therapeutic breakthroughs. I enjoy implementing cutting-edge technologies to bring medicines to patients faster.

In what context did you first learn about light scattering and Wyatt instruments?

I learned about light scattering in my current role in Pfizer, when our department begin to incorporate vaccines into our pipeline and I began to utilize Wyatt’s SEC-MALS detectors and software to measure the attributes of protein-polysaccharide conjugates. Our SEC-MALS results enable better bioprocess decisions.

How have your Wyatt instruments contributed to your research and development studies?

Our DAWN^® multi-angle light scattering and Optilab^®differential refractometer instruments have been at the forefront of our process development, stability and clinical studies for vaccine candidates. The capsid content results we obtained by SEC-MALS in studies of AAVs are featured in a recent publication in Molecular Therapy-Methods & Clinical Development (MTM&CD), entitled “Comparison of Analytical Techniques to Quantitate the Capsid Content of Adeno-Associated Viral Vectors”, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtm.2021.08.009.

SEC-MALS, utilizing measurements made by the DAWN and Optilab with control and analysis by Wyatt’s ASTRA^® software, has proven to be an essential technology for supporting process development of protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccines. It is especially valuable in understanding the impact of process decisions on critical quality attributes of many of our vaccine candidates. The technology also demonstrates great promise for understanding and quantifying multiple quality attributes in adeno-associated viral particles.