Featured Customer: Lynette Schroeter Tedesco, Ph.D.

We spoke with Lynette Schroeter-Tedesco, to get to the bottom of her ongoing relationship with Wyatt Technology.

Lynette, can you please tell us about your background: where you grew up, studied and the field you chose?
I grew up in San Diego, and stayed in San Diego. I love the beach and the mountains, and San Diego is definitely a place where both of things can be enjoyed. Hiking, biking and gardening, are all activities that are easy to enjoy here.

What led you to choose that direction? What are the challenges that excite you?
I hated chemistry in high school, but in college found that I really enjoyed it. I majored in Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD with a minor in psychology. I had wanted to study neuropsychology, but needed to take a break from school after completing my B.S. During college, I worked at the Navy Research and Development Labs, studying bio-remediation. When I graduated, I worked at a pharmaceutical company, developing dry powder inhalers. That was my introduction to real world analytical chemistry. I quickly moved over to analytical development, and have spent a large part of my career doing developing assays to characterize all kinds of active pharmaceuticals. I have also worked at major diagnostic companies like Illumina and Biosite working on their products as well.

What does your current position entail? How does it tie into your previous experience, and where is it going?
I have been in Crystalomics for approximately 4 years. I find the platform intriguing. Developing high concentration and sustained release bio therapeuctics has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for patients. No one else is approaching the bio therapeutic concentration/stability issue from this direction. There are crystallographers, and formulation scientists, but we are combining the 2 disciplines to create something amazing. Every day is different, and there are always new puzzles to solve. I have taken the problem solving skills developed from my analytical development and R&D background, and applied it to both protein crystallization and protein formulation. Each protein we work on, also brings us new challenges and insights because they are all different. I can honestly say no 2 projects have been a like, and that keeps the job interesting.

In what context did you first learn about light scattering and Wyatt instruments?
We have lots of analytical challenges. Characterizing the proteins, crystals, high concentration crystalline suspensions and producing injectable crystalline slurries is a challenge. One of my colleagues introduced us to Wyatt Technology.

How has light scattering contributed to your research and development studies?
MALS allows us to quickly determine if the protein is stable in our crystallization conditions/formulation buffers. We also routinely use the DLS to develop crystallization and formulation conditions, testing for k_D, % PD, T_m, R_h etc. The plate format allows us to screen many conditions simultaneously. In addition the software just keeps getting better. Right now, I am very happy with the ease of use. Wyatt has been very responsive and supportive to our development needs and questions.

Any personal anecdotes that would help illuminate your career or outlook?
As a long time bio-tech professional, I find it more satisfying to work on a platform, something that can be broadly applied, rather than a single drug. I feel that there is more chance to have a positive impact to patients in that way. Any one drug has a small chance of success, so working with a platform, increases the chance, that my work will have on a commercial product, and thereby improve the patient experience/life.